SunClan's Fate, Book II: Ashes
by Nicki Anne
Summary: The SunClan's Fate trilogy continues as we follow Poppypaw and Moth in both of their separate trials and tribulations. While Moth struggles to lead her clan, Poppypaw must deal with the various hardships and secrets that come with being a medicine cat apprentice. The Book is halfway done and I can't wait to write some of the upcoming chapters. Thanks so much for reading!
1. Prologue

_**SunClan's Fate, Book II: Ashes**_

"_Find a place inside where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain."_

_-Joseph Campbell_

_**Part I**_

"_Recovery begins from the darkest moment."_

_-John Major_

Prologue

"Cats of all clans! In this time of great trial, we must join together to prevail!" the grey tabby tom yowled at the Gathering. "StarClan has sent us the message and we must follow it!"

"And where exactly is that to, Hailstar?" an orange tom asked, frown prevalent on his face.

"Emberstar," he spoke, sadness tainting his face ever so slightly, "We all know that IceClan has not received the sign. But the rest of the clans have." Hailstar spoke with an exasperated tone. As if he had had this conversation thousands of times before. The other three cats next to him on the branch nodded their heads in agreement.

Another cat, this time an all grey she-cat spoke up, "MoonClan received its signal through our medicine cat, Berryfur. And Berryfur has never been wrong nor mislead us."

Emberstar stood up, pelt rising slightly, "IceClan has not received a sign, so therefore, we will not go!" The clearing was deadly silent. Clouds began to cover up the moon.

Another cat, this one with a very dark gray tabby coat stood up. She shook her head, "I'm sorry that it had to come to this Emberstar. SunClan, BreezeClan, MoonClan, and FireClan have all made their choices." She sighed deeply, visibly showing her sadness, "The time of this territory is coming to an end. The prey is leaving, heading over the jagged peaks. The trees are dying, rotting away like old crow-food. There is nothing left for us here now." She stared around at the gathered cats, "Any cat that stays here will be forgotten and will soon die. It is inevitable."

Hailstar stood up, "Shadowstar is right. She, Coalstar, Redstar, and I will lead our clans away from death. But, if your clan chooses to die here like frightened prey, so be it." He was about to leap down when he remembered something. He turned around and faced the IceClan group of cats, "Any cat from IceClan that wishes to leave and be a part of SunClan may join us. We will not judge you from any other cat."

Emberstar looked down at his clan with a sense of anger. For a moment, not one cat stood up or spoke. Then, a small, silvery tabby she-cat stood up. Her eyes were as blue as the clan's name.

"Frostclaw…" Emberstar warned, his voice was thick with anger.

She cleared her throat, "I wish to join SunClan. I believe that it would be mad to stay here and die." She glanced over her shoulder to where her mate stood; eyes widened in shock, and whispered softly, "I'm sorry Eaglepelt, but it's for our kits' sake."

"Very well," Hailstar said, nodding his head, "Welcome to SunClan." He waited for another moment, "Are there any others?"

The IceClan cats cast sideways glances at each other, giving away their sense of suspicion and fear. Then, four more cats stood up.

Hailstar nodded his head, "SunClan welcomes you all; Yarrowclaw, Volespots, Streampelt, and Flamescar." Eaglepelt was not among them.

When no other cat stood up Hailstar gave a curt nod, "Well then. SunClan wishes you all the best of luck." With that he turned tail and leapt down from the branch. The other leaders, who were waiting for him at the edge of the clearing, gave similar goodbyes. Emberstar stood still, not acknowledging any of them. Slowly, four of the clans left the clearing one last time, taking five of IceClan's warriors with them.

As Emberstar led his clan back to camp, he noticed that all four of the clans' scent led straight towards the jagged peaks. Never to return. They were the ones making the mistake. Not him. Without StarClan on their side, they were doomed to die. And then, at that moment, he sent a curse towards them.

He cursed SunClan for taking his warriors, and he prayed to the dark forest that they would steal away more of their warriors than any cat could count. That they should be plagued by sickness and misfortune. Especially Frostclaw's descendants for being the first to betray her clan. He hoped with all of his heart that SunClan would die.


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

Rain. It poured through the camp, washing away the blood-filled dirt and hair. The gore from the battle, and hopefully the past tragedies, were being cleansed. SunClan was starting anew. Contrary to this, the howls of agony still filled the camp. Screams for the lost loved ones, screams for the wounds inflicted upon them, and screams from the dying. It was purifying and terrifying all at once.

Poppykit gazed on with wonder as her clanmates flitted through the camp like birds. Most of them were covered in mud, blood, or a mixture of both. Her foster mother, Rosebloom, was in the center of camp. She stood guard over Icekit and Jaykit's bodies. Face as stony as a rock.

She could see the bodies of the dead lined up in the clearing. BreezeClan's were off to the side. And the rogues were being dragged out of the camp as she watched. Then, there was a shift in attention. All of the BreezeClan cats suddenly began moving towards the medicine cat den where Lilystream had just walked out. The pounding of the rain let up just enough to where she could hear the medicine cat speak.

"You're leader will be fine, mostly. Her wound was deep, but with the help of StarClan, I was able to save her before it drained all of her lives." The cats sighed with relief, happy that they weren't left hanging by a thread, "On the other paw," Lilystream continued, "Her kits were early. I'm not sure if they'll survive the trauma." Suddenly the entire clearing was silent.

The SunClan cats, busy attending to the dead, had stopped their work. Lilystream looked on as she finished, "Amberstar will stay here with the kits until I see fit that they can go back to BreezeClan's camp."

Gingerlight, the BreezeClan deputy and Amberstar's sister, stepped forward, "We had no knowledge of Amberstar's kits until a moment ago. BreezeClan will return to our camp. We trust that you will harbor Amberstar safely until her kits are strong enough to go." She flicked her tail to signal to the others.

Slowly, they filtered out of camp, shouldering their fallen clanmates as they went. When they had all left Hawkstar limped up to the medicine cat. Poppykit strained to hear their conversation, but it was too low and rushed.

Giving up on that point of interest, she scanned the camp for any further excitement. Her eye lingered on an unfamiliar she-cat. She must've been a leftover rogue. She had long, brindle fur with a white underbelly. Her eyes were sharp and yellow. She held herself with a sort of dignity Poppykit was unused to. Surrounding her was a guard of four cats.

Glancing over her shoulder she noticed that all the queens were busy fixing the damages done to the nursery. Also, the rest of the kits had fallen back asleep in one of the corners. Nobody would notice if she slipped out. Carefully, she padded around the rest of the wall and skirted into the shadows cast by the tall oak trees surrounding camp.

Slowly, she padded underneath roots and twigs poking out from the thorn-stick barrier. When she got close to the warrior guard around the she-cat she paused, hiding underneath a large cluster of weeds. Poppykit stared intently, looking for any way she could sneak past them.

Her hopes were dashed when Hawkstar and Blackear suddenly came forward to talk to her, "Rogue! What is your name?" her leader demanded.

The she-cat narrowed her eyes and hissed back, "What use is my name to you, forest cat?"

Hawkstar spat back, equally as furious, "You will do as I say and tell me what I need to know!" Calming down slightly he added, "Or, I can let my warriors take care of you. I'm sure they're more than willing to take their revenge for their fallen clanmates."

The she-cat's opened her eyes a bit more but her angry demeanor did not vanish, "My name is Ruisseau."

"Ruisseau…were you one of Off's followers?" he asked next.

"Oui…I mean, yes." She replied, "But, I was more forced than anything else."

Hawkstar nodded his head warily, "How many of you are left?"

Ruisseau seemed to think for a while, "Ten to fifteen. It's hard to keep an exact number anymore."

Blackear's eyes widened, "Hawkstar, we cannot take another attack by so many. We can't survive that."

Ruisseau spoke up again, "They are mostly queens and kits, forced into Off's service. There are only several, as you would call it, warriors left of our group."

Badgerstorm padded up to the group, "There are thirteen rogues dead, Hawkstar. I've talked with the other warriors too. They seem to think there are four or five wandering the woods or returned to their camp that escaped."

Hawkstar nodded his head thoughtfully, "Blackear, organize a patrol of any able-bodied warriors left. That includes apprentices. Then, go into the twoleg-place and break up the group left."

"What if they don't believe us?" Blackear asked.

"Take Ruisseau, she'll be able to confirm that Off's dead." Hawkstar replied.

At this point Poppykit was nearly shaking with excitement. If only she were an apprentice…

Her thoughts of joining the raiding party suddenly vanished. She had watched as the cats were killed in the battle. She had seen Icekit and Jaykit murdered by one of the rogues. Did she really want to be a part of that?

Slowly, she backed up, out of the weeds, right into Lilystream's leg. She froze for a second before turning around. The medicine cat, jaws full of cobweb, was staring down at the kit in dismay.

She set down the bundle of web before saying anything, "What are you doing out of the nursery?"

Poppykit, thinking of nothing good to say, just shrugged her shoulders.

Lilystream shook her head, "Honestly, if you aren't the most adventurous thing ever…!"

Poppykit knew that she was about to take her back to the nursery. Thinking fast she asked, "I was wondering if I could help you with the herbs!" she rushed.

Lilystream was slightly taken aback for a moment, "Well, I am shorthanded at the moment…alright, but you must do exactly as I say." Poppykit nearly sighed with relief. She definitely didn't want to get scolded by any of the queens.

The medicine cat led her to her den. Inside it was cool and comfortable, not stuffy like the rest of the camp felt. On the far side of the den were two nests with various herbs piled near them. Each separate pile was on its own large leaf. All of it was neat and orderly.

Nearer to the front were nests, some of them full, some of them empty. A foreign cat, who Poppykit guessed was Amberstar, slept peacefully along with three tiny kits. Each no longer than her tail.

Feathertail padded into the den just as Lilystream was about to hand her some herbs.

Seeing the kit with her Feathertail said, "Is something wrong with Poppykit?"

Lilystream shook her head, "No, she just wanted to help with the hurt, didn't you?" Poppykit nodded her head.

"Lilystream?" Feathertail asked.

"Yes, what is it?"

The warriors eyes rested on Poppykit's for a moment, "We need to talk outside…"

Sensing the urgency in her tone the medicine cat turned to the kit, "I'll be right back. Don't touch or eat anything."

Once they had left the den, she dashed up to the entrance and strained to hear what the two she-cat were saying.

"-found him by the stream. I'm so sorry." Feathertail finished.

Lilystream's voice sounded choked up, "He was a brave cat. I'm sure his sister will help him to StarClan safely."

"I can help finish up with healing. You should rest."

The medicine cat's voice was suddenly free of emotion, "No. It's my duty to heal and comfort the clan. And that is exactly what I'm going to do. I can't afford to fail them now." Her pawsteps suddenly started coming back towards the den. Poppykit started backwards and tripped over a rock.

The next thing she knew she had landed head-first in a large pile of roots. Lilystream came in, paused for a moment, and burst out laughing. Poppykit wriggled her way out of the mess of roots and sat indignant, smoothing her fur.

"I'm sorry Poppykit. I guess with all of the terrible things happening, my body just needed to be cheered up in one way or another." Lilystream apologized.

Poppykit decided to act like it didn't happen and continued on, "Could you please tell me the herbs please?"

Lilystream smiled, "Sure." She pointed her tail at a pile of small blue berries, "These are juniper berries. I want you to start out by taking these to the elders for me." She separated several of them and wrapped them in a leaf so that Poppykit could carry them easily.

"What do they do?" Poppykit asked. She was genuinely curious, but she didn't want it to show.

"It does a lot of different things, but we're going to use it today to help calm down the elders. I don't want them to go into shock. Give them two berries each."

Poppykit nodded her head and picked up the small bundle. Pacing herself, so that she didn't spill any, she padded out of the den. Thankfully, the elders' den was directly behind the large tangle of roots that was the medicine cat den. It was carefully woven into the wall of the SunClan camp. Wildflowers covered its entrance, making it seemingly invisible. If the attack had been predicted, the queens and kits would've been hidden inside this den.

She also noted that several of these flowers were in tiny piles inside Lilystream's den. They must've doubled as herbs for something. She shouldered her way through the flowers into the den, nearly dropping her bundle in the process.

Brightstripe saw her first, "Poppykit! What are you doing outside of the nursery in a time like this?" she asked worriedly.

"I helping Lilystream wif da herb." She said through the bundle of herbs.

Brightstripe smiled and called Pooltree over, who was sleeping in the corner. When he joined the two she-cats Poppykit dropped the leaf on the ground. She separated the four berries into two piles of two.

"Lilystream told me to give you two each." Brightstripe nodded her head and licked up her share. Pooltree did the same, but more cautiously.

"Thank you Poppykit." The elder she-cat said. When Pooltree said nothing she tapped him with her tail and shot him a glare.

He cleared his throat gruffly, "Uh, yah, thanks." He then returned to his nest and curled back up.

Poppykit rolled her eyes and left. Even though Pooltree had been less than nice, she had liked helping him. When she got back to the medicine den, Lilystream was mostly done tending to warriors. She and Feathertail had gotten most of the work done. Petalpaw, Amberstar, and several other seriously injured warriors were all sleeping.

But, a new sadness hung in the air. Lilystream was in the back of the den, rolling up one of the two nests. Poppykit sat down in the entrance instead of walking up to the medicine cat. She sensed that whatever had happened wasn't good, and that she shouldn't intrude.

When Lilystream finished cleaning the nest up she picked it up in her jaws. When she turned around she finally noticed Poppykit standing in her den. She dropped the ball of moss and said, "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't see you there. What can I do for you?"

Not wanting to bring up what she guessed had happened to Thrushtail she said, "I was wondering what some of the other herbs did. Could you tell me?"

Lilystream smiled sadly and nodded her head, "Sure, come with me."

Poppykit followed her to the back of the den where a pile of seeds lay, "These are poppy seeds. I mostly use them to make cats go to sleep, but they can also be used to alleviate some minor pain."

The black kit looked incredulously at the pile, "Those tiny seeds can do that much?"

Lilystream nodded her head, "That and more. But, there are too many uses to describe right now.

Poppykit pointed at a pile set aside from the others, "What about those? Those look just like poppy seeds."

Lilystream, seeing where she was pointing, narrowed her eyes, "Those are foxglove seeds. They are very poisonous when used incorrectly."

"Why do you have them in here then?"

"If you use the right dosage, at the right time, for the right reason, they can save a cat. But, other than that, they can cause your heart to stop or paralysis."

Poppykit's eyes widened. She was suddenly glad that she was named after a helpful herb rather than its deadly look-a-like.

After a while, she lost track of how much time she had spent in the medicine cat den. Every herb proved to be just as interesting as the last. One of them, comfrey root, could repair broken bones, wrenched claws, and itching!

As she padded back to the nursery, the only thing she could think of was helping heal other cats. Unlike some of her denmates, who dreamt of becoming great fighters and defenders of SunClan, she could only think of healing. Being a peaceful mediator rather than starting a fray.

But, did she really want to be a medicine cat, or was it a spur-of-the-moment decision. Her uncle had been a medicine cat apprentice until this night. That meant that Lilystream could have an apprentice. And even though Thrushtail had died, she knew that he would support her no matter what.

Seeing that her sisters were asleep she closed her eyes tight and sent a pray to StarClan, "Thrushtail, if you can hear me, please send me some sort of sign. A sign telling me what I should do."

Before long she was asleep. Her dreams were filled with scenes from the battle, replaying over and over in her head. The worst part was when the rogues broke into the nursery. Only Cinderfur, Bluepaw, and Brownpaw had been defending them. Rosebloom had left to help with the bulk of the attack.

She had cowered behind the gray queen as she watched the two apprentices get killed. Stepping over their bodies they had entered the nursery. Cinderfur had leapt at them, hoping to tear them apart bit by bit. But they had been too much for her. While one fought with Cinderfur, the other moved onto the kits.

Berrykit and Jaykit had run forward and bit his legs, trying to distract him. He shook off Berrykit, sending him flying into a wall, and picked up the smaller Jaykit by his neck. With one powerful bite he had snapped his neck. He dropped the now dead kit on the ground and returned to the rest of them.

Luckily, Rosebloom returned to the nursery to help with Cinderfur. They chased off the cat she had been fighting and turned on the other rogue. He was fast though, with one swift movement he had picked up Icekit, who was the closest, and killed her in the same manner as her brother.

Rosebloom and Cinderfur attacked him, killing him right in front of them. By that time the battle was almost over. They had enough time to drag the rogue's body out of the den. Both she-cats gingerly picked up the kits' bodies and took them out of the nursery too.

Her eyes fluttered open. It was long past sun-high when she woke up. But, considering the previous night had kept her awake nearly 'til dawn, she wasn't ashamed. She stretched when she got up and padded out of the nursery. The camp was still buzzing with activity as she observed. Her eyes eventually fell on Lilystream, who was sharing some prey with Rosebloom. As she watched, something red caught her vision. Falling from the trees was a small, red poppy flower. A bird must've dropped it.

Poppykit watched amused as it sailed through the air. It floated until if finally landed on the ground, right next to Lilystream. She sucked in her breath, could this be the sign she had asked for? Almost as if she had heard her thoughts, Lilystream turned around. The flower rolled on a small breeze until it stopped right on her paws.

She looked down on it in wonder and then looked right at Poppykit standing in the nursery's entrance. Poppykit glanced away; embarrassed that she had been caught staring. Out of the corner of her vision she saw Lilystream smile. She picked up the flower and returned to her den.

Poppykit shoulders sank in relief. She finally knew what she wanted to do. She wasn't cut out to fight. She didn't want to be around killing and destruction her whole life. She wanted to be a medicine cat.


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Lilystream bounded up to the Highstump along with Hawkstar. It was just wide enough for the two cats to sit comfortably, "Cats of SunClan, as you know, I will not be medicine cat forever. And since Thrushtail joined the ranks of StarClan, I am in need of a new apprentice. I have chosen a cat that has shown herself to be quick of mind and cunning. Your next medicine cat will be Poppypaw."

Poppypaw puffed up her chest at the sound of her new name. Hawkstar had just given it to her, even though she didn't have a warrior mentor. Rosebloom gave her a quick lick in between her ears to flatten down a wild tuft of her long hair. She gave her foster mother an annoyed look but padded forward towards the Highstump anyway. Lilystream leapt down and stood next to her.

Hawkstar spoke next, "Poppypaw, do you accept the post of apprentice to Lilystream?"

Poppypaw nodded her head, "I do."

Lilystream smiled, "Then tonight, you must travel to the Mooncave to be accepted by StarClan before the other medicine cats."

"The good wishes of all the clan go with you." Hawkstar said. He had deliberately chosen the day of the half-moon to perform her and her sister's apprentice ceremonies so that she would not have to wait. Lilystream bent down and touched noses with Poppypaw.

The rest of the clan called out her name, "Poppypaw, Poppypaw, Poppypaw!" She beamed with happiness.

She went over and sat next to her sisters while the clan walked past and congratulated them. Morningpaw was apprenticed to Fireclaw, Dawnpaw was apprenticed to Badgerstorm, and Mintpaw was apprenticed to Leopardspots.

Although there had not been any wind at all that day, there was a sudden gust. It sent the leaves, which were beginning to change color, in a downward spiral to the ground. She didn't want to assume anything, but she guessed that it was her mother's approval. If only she could've been there that day.

After everyone was done congratulating them, they each went off with their own mentor. Poppypaw's three sisters left to go do some sort of training or duty. Poppypaw, however, joined Lilystream in the medicine cat den.

"Well," Lilystream said when she finally saw her, "How does it feel to be an almost-medicine cat apprentice?"

Poppypaw laughed, "Good. But for all intent and purposes, I'm still a kit."

Her mentor smiled, "Not for long. Just until tonight at the meeting. I'm sure they're all going to like you." Poppypaw smiled. "Now, we need to take a small amount of travelling herbs just to keep us awake long enough to reach the Mooncave."

She shuffled around the stocked piles of herbs until she pulled out a small amount of burnet and ragweed. Just enough to take them the Mooncave and back. Both of them ate their share and padded back out of the den. It was just past sunhigh.

If they left at that moment, they could walk leisurely to their destination, without any hurry at all. Poppypaw noticed her sisters already hard at work on their apprentice duties. Morningpaw and Dawnpaw were busy cleaning out the elders' den and Mintpaw was cleaning the nursery. She barely had time to find all of them before her mentor was leading her out of the camp and into the forest. The last time she had been out here was when Feathertail had tried to get her to tell who had essentially gotten her mother killed.

So, the only memories she had of it were bad ones. Luckily, they didn't follow the same route Reedfur had shown her and her sisters. This time, they went more to the south-west than the south-east. Going this way was faster than going the previous way.

The forest was even more leaf-fall colored than camp. There were more shades of oranges and yellows to be seen. Plus, at this point, the prey was still abundant. Squirrels darted back and forth gathering food for leaf-bare. Ducks, high in the sky, flew to a warmer climate. She had learnt that from the elders, who said that several cats followed them once.

Before long they were at the Great River. It was slightly down from its usual banks, leaving a small cut-off from the bank to the actual water. But they didn't need to cross it. All they needed to do was stay within a reasonable length of the shore, and they would not be considered intruding cats in other clan's territory.

No sooner had they crossed the stream though were they stopped by an OceanClan patrol. Leading it was their deputy, Cloudedpool. He took one look at Lilystream before saying, "Is it the half-moon already?"

It was still mid-afternoon at this point, but Lilystream didn't want to waste time, "Yes, and we need to get going. We're just going to follow the shore until we exit your territory."

Cloudedpool nodded his head, "You've never done anything different so I don't think I'll have to worry about you. Do you want me to fetch Mintpelt?" he asked.

Lilystream thought for a moment, "That would be very nice actually. Tell her to meet us at the western edge of your territory. That should give her time to catch up with us."

He nodded his head and signaled for his patrol to follow him. When they had gone Poppypaw asked, "Are they always that nice to you?"

Lilystream smiled, "Yes, the trick is, is that you have to be nice to them. They'll treat you with the same respect most of the time."

Poppypaw noted that. It could come in use for the future. They padded along in silence, Poppypaw mostly taking in the vast amount of sights, until they reached the OceanClan border. The end of their territory marked the end of the clan territory all together. There were no more trees except some in the distance, which Lilystream said was the lake. It was all grassy plains, with not one stalk any taller than herself.

In the distance she could barely make out a hazy blue line. When she asked about it, Lilystream replied with a cryptic, "You'll see." Poppypaw rolled her eyes. They had to wait for Mintpelt to catch up with them, so it gave her time to really understand her surroundings. The earth was especially wet on this side of the stream, as if it never would ever be truly dry. The trees also had more moss on them than SunClan's territory.

There wasn't much to look at to her right, so she looked to her left. The Great River still flowed steadily, but at a lazier pace than the first time she saw it. Somewhere she remembered someone telling her that this is where the river was at its thinnest. But the shore was still at least eight or ten tree-lengths away.

Glancing over her shoulder she could see the very tip of Four Rivers, where the Gatherings were held every moon. Hopefully she would be able to explore the island if Hawkstar took her to the next Gathering in a half moon.

Just then, Mintpelt caught up with them. She looked as if she had been sprinting to reach them the entire length of her territory. Mintpelt was a medium-sized she-cat. She was a grey tabby with pale yellow eyes. One of her ears was shredded and she had numerous scars. One of them was so long that it reached from the base of her neck all the way to the base of her tail.

Part of her wanted so badly to ask where she had gotten those scars, and why she had so many. But, the more rational half of her knew that she shouldn't. Poppypaw made up her mind to ask Lilystream how she had gotten them later.

Mintpelt, taking one last pant, asked Lilystream, "So, how has SunClan been lately?"

Lilystream shrugged her shoulders, "More or less, good. Nearly everyone's recovered from the battle. Plus, I think Petalpaw's injuries are almost fully healed."

Mintpelt nodded her head, "That's good to hear. I was wondering how it's been treating a mauled cat. Luckily I haven't had to deal with it yet." Then, looking down at Poppypaw she said, "And who is this?"

Lilystream smiled, "This is Poppypaw. She's my new apprentice."

The OceanClan cat smiled and said, "Don't be nervous. You're being mentored by one of the best StarClan has ever seen."

"Thank you Mintpelt." Poppypaw said. It did help her acute sense of fear.

More slowly they made their way on the last leg of their journey. She had heard from the elders that this part lasted the longest. And it did. Somewhere along the way she noticed that she scented what could only be MarshClan. It smelled like the water. Water and moss. Poppypaw also scented BreezeClan's scent. She remembered it from the battle. Theirs smelled like warm sun and sweet grass.

As they walked she noticed that the hazy blue line slowly became larger and larger. Soon, she could make out individual waves. All over in the ocean were twoleg monsters. They bobbed up and down like leaves in the wind. Poppypaw stared in awe as the ocean just seemed to grow and expand in size.

Then, the sun began to set. Bright streaks of flaming orange and blood red colored the sky. A light pink, like that of a young kit's nose, tinted the sky just above it. The sky immediately around the sun was a yellow as a marigold. Then, it sunk into the ocean. Drowning out its bright light. Quickly the sky became a deep blue-black.

And then, they were there. Lilystream and Mintpelt, who had been walking side by side in front of her stopped. Poppypaw padded around them and looked at what they were staring at. It was a small hole, easily mistakable for a badger, or even a large rabbit hole. It was dark and smelled earthy, giving her the sense that if they went in it, they were going to suffocate.

"We're going in that?" she asked, trying not to let her fear tint her voice.

"Yes. Listen, can you hear the water?" Poppypaw quieted down and calmed her heartbeat. Faintly, ever so much so, she could hear the lapping of water on stone. And something else. She couldn't pinpoint it though.

Lilystream turned to Mintpelt, "I'll go in first. Then Poppypaw will lead, and you'll go last. I don't want her to worry too much since this is her first time."

Mintpelt nodded her head, "No problem, let's go."

Lilystream went into the hole headfirst. Poppypaw took a steadying breath and dove in. The first thing she noticed was that it was dark. That and slightly damp. The earth was slightly slick beneath her paws. She could hear her mentor's paw steps going slowly, so she did the same. She didn't want to go sliding down the hole to who-knew-where.

Surprisingly, it wasn't a long way to go. Then again, Lilystream began to quicken her pace so as not to miss the moon's dazzling affect on the cave.

The BreezeClan medicine cat, Cloverheart, and the MarshClan medicine cat, Crowrain, along with his apprentice, Whisperpaw, were already there. Cloverheart was a grey tabby she-cat with light green eyes. Crowrain nearly blended into the surroundings. He was a dark grey, almost black, tom with bright yellow eyes. And his apprentice was a deep brown. He had one white paw and orange eyes.

The aforementioned surroundings were breathtaking. Even in the dark it was wonderful. It was a smooth cave, without any rough edges. It was an oval shape so far as she could tell. Large stones, that seemingly grew out of the surrounding stone, reached upward like sharp teeth. Likewise, equally large stones hung from the roof of the cave. All of the created the look that the cave had dozens of teeth placed mishap all over.

On the far edge of the cave was a small pool. It smelled like the ocean had. Salt and fish. But, it smelled cooler since they were in the cave.

At the very edge of the pool was a huge stone. It was thicker than the largest tree in all of SunClan's territory. Which just so happened to be the stump that Hawkstar made his den in. Affixed to it were hundreds of shinier stones. They ranged from the size of her claws to as large as her head. They came in every color that she could describe, and some she couldn't describe.

The other medicine cats watched her with amusement. When Poppypaw finally returned her attention to the group her face flushed. She hadn't realized that everyone was watching her.

Cloverheart spoke first, "So, Lilystream, I presume this is your new apprentice?"

Lilystream nodded her head, "Yes. She's been accepted by SunClan, so now it's all up to StarClan." They nodded their heads and let Lilystream step up to the large tree-like stone.

She looked up into a hole in the roof of the cave, staring out at the stars above, "Poppypaw, is it your wish to enter the mysteries of StarClan as a medicine cat?"

Poppypaw took one last steadying breath, "It is."

"Then come forward." The apprentice padded up to where her mentor stood. "Warriors of StarClan, I present to you this apprentice. She has chosen the path of a medicine cat. Grant her your wisdom and insight so that she may understand your ways and heal her Clan in accordance with your will."

The rest of the medicine cats then stepped forward to the gem-studded stone. Not a heartbeat passed before the moon reached its peak and shone through the hole in the roof. Dazzling spots of light came from the gems, sending thousands of colors dancing around the cave. It was as if they were in StarClan itself, swimming through stars. The streaks of light from the large stone lit up other stones farther in the cave. Poppypaw's breath was taken away.

Then, Lilystream lay down and touched her nose to the stone. The rest of the cats did the same. Poppypaw hesitantly did as her mentor did and she instantly fell asleep.

She was standing back in the SunClan forest. But it was different. It was cleaner and purer. Lightning bugs and other bugs floated lazily in the small breeze. And there was a certain sparkle to the air, as if the stars themselves had fallen to earth and gotten caught in the branches.

She walked around in the dark for a time, enjoying the peacefulness. Then, from behind her, a branch snapped. She stopped, frozen in her tracks. She suddenly had the feeling that she was surrounded, trapped from all sides. The appearance of glowing eyes gave truth to her suspicion.

A reddish-brown she-cat stepped forward from directly in front of her. She had long fur with several long scars. Poppypaw knew that she shouldn't draw out her claws, even though she badly wanted to.

"There's no need to be afraid Poppypaw." The mystery cat said.

"Who are you?" she asked.

The she-cat sat down and licked her paw, "I'm Berrystar. I was the leader of SunClan before Hawkstar."

So she was in StarClan. She had guessed that this is where she was, but she wasn't sure. "Why have I been brought here?" Poppypaw asked cautiously.

Berrystar closed her eyes slowly, "You have been chosen by StarClan for something great. SunClan will die, that much is certain, but you can save some. You can help save the other clans. If only you try."

Poppypaw stared at her in shock at the StarClan cat, "What do you mean?"

Then a different cat stepped forward. Stars swirled through her coat, complimenting her natural swirled coat. Her eyes were ice blue and her pelt was mostly a soft silver color. She stopped by Berrystar's side, "Poppypaw…my daughter…"

Her mouth fell agape, "Mother…is it really you?" her voice shook slightly, shocked at the sight of her dead mother.

Silverswirl nodded her head, "You are gifted Poppypaw. Only you will be able to save the others. There is no hope left for our clan. Its fate has been determined. But there will be others. You can lead the remainder of our clan to safety, away from the death it has been plagued with. StarClan will be with you all the way Poppypaw."

Then they all began to fade, leaving her in the dark once more. Alone in the forest. Her mind was racing. SunClan was going to perish? And she was supposed to save them? How was she, one cat, going to accomplish that?!

She closed her eyes and shook her head hard, trying to chase out all of the terrible, haunting thoughts. When she opened them again she was back in the cave. Whisperpaw was just waking up. He yawned and stretched before looking around again. The moon had passed and they were again in the darkness of the cave. Slowly, the other medicine cats woke up. Once they were all up they filed out of the cave and out to the grassy plains again.

They eventually all parted ways again and left for their respective camps. And although they talked about various things, ranging from herbs to wounds, she barely payed attention. All of her thoughts were on what Berrystar and Silverswirl had said.

Even when she arrived and her sisters congratulated her. She couldn't shake the fear that clung to her.


	4. Chapter Three

Author's Note:

This chapter takes place across the jagged peaks (mountains) in the ancestral clan of the usual clans (aka: SunClan, OceanClan, BreezeClan, and MarshClan.) The place they live in, for all intents and purposes, is a barren wasteland. There are not many trees or other life for that matter. So that's the basic problem for them. Also, it used to have a lot of life, but it slowly changed to what it is today.

One last thing. Their names consist of only one name. Over the course of, well, a very, very long time they lost the –star, -paw, -kit, -last name suffixes. It's only because it's hard to keep traditions going with their situation. Well, I think that's it. If you have any questions, leave them in the reviews and I'll try my best to answer them. Thanks.

And, as always, review/comment. It really helps

~Nicki Anne

Chapter Three

"Moth, wake up!" The yell came from outside the den. Most likely it was her mentor, Hazel. She grumbled as she stiffly stood up and shook the moss and dirt from her pelt. Her brother, Cloud, was already gone. She walked slowly into the daylight, slightly surprised that she had slept that long.

She quickly noticed that Snow, the leader, was gathering a patrol. Vole, Jay, Red, and Cloud were already there.

Hazel then spoke up, "How is it possible that you can sleep that long?" she asked.

Moth shrugged her shoulders. Maybe it was the fact that every night she was forced to go on night 'missions' set up by her mentor and she was suffering from a lack of sleep. Although, she didn't say that.

She looked around and saw that only Owl and Pine were staying in camp with the elders, queens, and kits.

Instead of answering her mentor's question, she asked her own, "Where are the rest of the warriors?"

Hazel sighed, "Ember, Frost, Mouse, and Raven went on another hunting party. It seems like we need so much food for a tiny clan."

Moth snorted in agreement. All that was left of their clan was nine warriors, three apprentices, a leader, a queen, and a kit. In total only fifteen cats.

Her mother, who had died a moon earlier, had said that their clan once was large and thriving. And that the reason they had trouble finding food was because it was so large. But, then the dark times came, and their clan slowly diminished.

She had said that there used to be numerous clans that lived around them. Sometimes in peace, sometimes in war. But after the dark days, they left. Never to return. But they had stayed so that they would carry on tradition. IceClan would live on, even though the rest of them left across the jagged peaks.

Unfortunately, with a lack of cats, some traditions had been lost over time. But their faith stood firm. Nothing could shake them from their ancestors in StarClan.

"Moth! Are you awake or still sleeping?" Hazel said, nudging her out of her day-dreaming. She was embarrassed to find that everyone was staring at her, waiting to leave for the patrol.

"Oh, yah, I'm sorry. Just tired is all." She said. Hazel and her brother both rolled their eyes. With the conditions they were living in, it wasn't good to not be paying attention. Outside it was windy, as always, and freezing cold. She was thankful that her coat was long and thick. Then again, everyone's coat was thick. You usually died as a kit if it wasn't.

Even though they were on the very edge of the jagged peaks, if felt as if they were in them. The sun was covered by a thick layer of clouds, foreboding either rain or sleet.

"Alright," yelled Snow through the wind, "Let's get this patrol done as quickly as possible. I don't want to have to be stuck out here for long!" The cats nodded their heads in agreement.

They were just rounding their first bend in the patrol when she caught something's scent. She was in the back of the patrol so no one noticed when she left the group momentarily. Then she pinpointed the source of the scent. It was a large rabbit that had unknowingly wandered into her territory. Luckily, she was downwind of it. Slowly she crept up on it, using all of her muscles to stay quiet.

Suddenly, its ears perked up, it had alerted to her presence. She pounced and flung herself at it. StarClan had helped her because she was able to catch and kill it in one try. Latching onto its neck she hurriedly dragged it back to camp.

She knew that the patrol would most likely beat her there since they weren't carrying a rabbit the size of themselves, and they would be worried. It wasn't uncommon for cats to go missing periodically for unknown reasons. Bears, hawks, eagles, and other predators were the usual cause. In fact, her mother had been carried off by an especially horrid eagle. It liked to feast on their clan.

So that was why she was trying to get back to camp as soon as possible. Before some predator found two juicy targets to enjoy. Thankfully, she noticed as she was closing in on the camp that the patrol was just returning. She quickened up her pace and was able to slide into camp just as Hazel, who was right in the back, did.

There were loud, audible gasps from the cats all around when they saw what she had returned with. It could feed the entire clan! Moth quickly dropped it and sat next to her kill.

"Good job." Raven whispered to her. She smiled; he was always the first to compliment her.

Snow padded up to the rabbit and sniffed it, "This is amazing. Wonderful job Moth. I'm sure your mother would be proud." When he walked away she sighed in thankfulness. Although she was sure that he was going to be mad, he wasn't. Somehow the rabbit had erased all of that.

Her brother glared at her from the apprentices' den. Instead of returning his gaze she looked away. It wouldn't be a good idea to antagonize him. He always got that way when someone did something better than him. And somehow, he thought that she was always trying to show him up.

"Don't worry about him." Raven said, "He's just jealous that he's not the best hunter in the clan like you."

She laughed, "I'm not the best hunter. I only just started." He got up and picked up the rabbit in her jaws. Raven, seeing her struggle, latched onto the tail-end of it and helped her carry it to the fresh-kill pile. She saw a mole and several mice laying on it.

"Has River gotten any of these yet?" she asked. River was IceClan's queen. She had originally had three kits, but one was carried off by a hawk and the other one was born with a short coat. Only Sparrow had survived.

Raven nodded his head, "Yah, we took a vole to her as soon as we got back. It seems like that's the only prey we find anymore." Moth nodded her head in agreement.

"C'mon. Let's go practice some of those hunting moves."

"Which one?" he asked as they padded out of camp.

Moth thought for a moment, "How about the killer birds one?" Raven audibly groaned. "Oh, come on. It's not that bad."

He sighed, "I agree, it's just extremely hard and impossible."

She laughed, "It's not that bad. It's just that Snow and Ember are the only cats who know how to actually do it." Raven joined her laughter.

Just as they reached the secluded training area, which was covered by several large bushes, hiding them from any other animals, Raven's mentor joined them.

His mentor was Pine, a gray-brown tom with white paws. "Hey, need any help?"

They nodded their heads, "Just the bird movement though." Together all three worked on it, but, in the end, they still hadn't mastered it.

Moth went to sleep that night, thoroughly tired and ready for rest. Raven and Cloud had already fallen sleep in their nests next to her. She could faintly hear Owl at the entrance guarding camp from predators. At this point at night, it was mostly foxes. In the den next to theirs she could hear Sparrow squeaking for his mother's milk.

When she finally did fall asleep, they were full of troubled dreams. She was padding through large rolling hills, covered in rich, green grass. In the distance were vast forests full of thick trees. Prey ran across the hills in plentiful amounts. The sky was something she rarely saw. It was a light blue, with thin wisps of clouds floating lazily in it.

Then, the landscape transformed into the barren territory she had grown up with. Only sparse grasses grew, with mostly bushes and no trees. In fact, all that she could see of the trees were ancient stumps, rotting away. And the sky was its usual bleak grey.

Then, it was as if she as high as the eagles in the sky, soaring high above the ground. Below her was IceClan's territory, looking even worse from high above. Then, she flew above the jagged peaks. There were a lot of them, but they didn't last long from this height. Then, she was flying through the rolling hills from before. A massive river flowed from the jagged peaks, through the hills, and led to a gigantic lake. It looked as if it was never ending.

And then, she noticed something else. A part of it was burning. Slowly, the fire engulfed everything in sight. When it stopped there was nothing left beside charred wood and grass. Everything was black and gray and as bleak as her territory again.

Before anything else could happen she was nudged awake. Hazel was standing over her. By the looks of things it was still dark outside.

Moth groaned, "Please, can't I have one night of sleep?" she complained.

Hazel smiled, "Would an eagle wait for you to get some sleep?"

Sighing she got to her paws. Cloud and Raven were still asleep, snoring slightly and peacefully. Hazel led her out of camp and into the darkness. She looked up into the moon and noted that there was still awhile until sunrise. Even the bugs were silent. Thankfully though the wind had died down. Even though she hated the night training, she knew that it would help her in the long run. Plus, Hazel meant well and was always looking out for her.

"Alright," she said, finally stopping on the edge of a large open plain, "Your mission tonight is to successfully make it straight across the plain without being seen by a predator."

"What if there are no animals out there right now?" she asked.

Hazel laughed, "I wouldn't put you out there with a real animal. I'll pretend to be a fox and follow you around. Your objective is to have me lose your trail."

Moth nodded her head and set out into the grass. A slight breeze rippled through the grasses, sending a slight shiver down her spine. Hazel had purposefully made her start out so that her mentor was downwind from her, making it impossible to know where she was.

She kept herself low to the ground, letting the grasses cover her up from any birds of prey. She changed her course every now and then, trying to keep from going the same way.

Then, the wind shifted suddenly, changing directions completely. Moth picked up the sharp scent of fox! And not just one fox, several of them. If she screamed, they would hear her. Then she caught Hazel's scent. And blood.

Quickly and stealthily she made a wide circle around where the fox-scent was. As she did so she got closer and closer to the scent of blood. She slowed down as she neared it, afraid for what she would find. Up ahead she could see that the grasses were flattened down by something other than the wind. Here the horrid scent was at its peak, infiltrating every pore of her body. Mixed in with it was the scent of fox and faintly, of Hazel.

She slowly stuck her head through the barrier of grasses and into the clearing-like area. Almost as soon as she did so she retracted it. The sight was completely ghastly. It was covered in blood and fur. Most of Hazel was gone. But, in the characteristic of foxes, there was a bit left for the crows. Only a limb and some bones were left from what the foxes devoured. She must've been caught off-guard and they killed her before she could even scream. Otherwise, she would've never let that happen.

Suddenly, she thought of the camp. They wouldn't have known about their night mission since Hazel rarely told Snow about them. Heart beating rapidly she sprinted back to camp as fast as her legs could carry her. The fox scent was thick up until she neared the camp. They must be making their way towards the feast of cats that they scented.

Racing into the slight depression where IceClan's camp was situated she yowled at the top of her lungs, "FOXES! FOXES! They've killed Hazel!" The camp was almost instantly awake.

Snow raced up to her and asked, "How many, what happened?"

Panting she replied, "At least four, maybe five. They ate Hazel. They must be nearly full grown too. We have to go to the cave."

Snow nodded his head, "Retreat to the cave as fast as possible. Now!" he yowled to the remainder of IceClan.

Owl ran past the nursery and picked up Sparrow in his jaws. River quickly joined him. Moth searched for a few tense moments before she spotted Raven. Quickly she ran over next to him and they departed for the cave.

The cave was a secret area, only known to IceClan. All they had to do to reach it was run up the hill next to camp. It was a narrow slit in a rock face, which marked the beginning of the jagged peaks. By squeezing through it you could access a secret labyrinth of caves. One of the paths led to a huge cavern, which, at IceClan's peak, could just barely hold all of them. Now there was way more than enough room to fit them.

She was already tired from running before, but, for Raven's sake, she ran along at his pace. Her lungs were screaming with pain, but she ignored it. Then she remembered her brother back at camp. He could sleep even through the loudest of thunderstorms. She doubted that he had heard hers or Snow's announcement.

"Cloud!" she yelled, stopping dead in her tracks.

Raven wheeled back, "Moth, it's too late. The foxes will have arrived there by now." As if to prove his point a blood-curling scream rose from the camp. She squinted her eyes and saw the blurry orange shapes of the foxes tearing up camp. There were at least two bodies also.

"No…" she whispered.

Raven paced next to her, "Moth, they're going to follow us up here. They can't fit through the crack, but we can. If we can get there before they do, we'll at least be safe."

She stood where she was, trying to tell her muscles that it was too late and her brother was dead. Raven was still anxious, "Moth! We have to go!" Instead of waiting for her to snap out of it, he grabbed her scruff and half-dragged her.

She shook her head and began to run along with him. By this point they were behind the rest of the clan by a lot. Faintly, but growing ever closer, she could hear the heavy panting and loud pawsteps of the foxes. Since they were much larger than they, they would catch up to them in no time.

"Raven, if we don't make it-" she said

"Don't say anything, just run!" he screamed.

Moth nodded her head and ran even faster. Both of them rounded a slight bend and caught sight of the crack. They were so close. If only she could run a bit faster. Then there was a snap of jaws just behind her tail. She nearly leapt into the air. She hadn't realized that they were so close.

Seizing the opportunity at hand she quickly bunched her muscles and sprang towards the crack, barely fitting through without squirming. Not a second after she tumbled into the cave, so did Raven. They stood for a moment, just breathing. Safe.

Outside she could see and hear the foxes barreling against the rock face. But nothing moved. It couldn't. The foxes yipped and barked and scratched against the rock, still hoping for an easy meal.

Slowly they followed the path to the safe cavern. Their tails drooped on the rock floor and they both hung their heads low, too tired to even speak anymore. When they arrived there everyone let out a sigh. They couldn't believe that they were alive.

From the talk around the cave she learned that three had died, not including Hazel. Cloud, his mentor, Frost, and Mouse had all been killed by the foxes. Frost and Mouse had died when they went back for Cloud. The foxes had beaten them to him though.

In the end, she just curled up next to Raven and tried to fall asleep. She knew Snow would have something to say about everything that had passed. But she was kept awake by a new, terrible thought. Out of a clan of eleven, there were only three she-cats. She, Ember, and River. And Ember was past her kitting age. She was too young. That meant that only River could have kits, and she didn't want to since her mate, Fish, died. There was no one to sustain the clan anymore.

Did that mean that IceClan would perish?


	5. Chapter Four

Author's Note: OceanClan used to be called MoonClan. And MarshClan used to be called FireClan. They changed their clan's name when they moved to their current location in accordance to the characteristics of their territories.

Thanks for reading and as always, please leave a comment/review. It really helps!

~Nicki Anne

Chapter Four

Moth was awoken by a loud yowl, which reverberated and echoed around the cave loudly. From thin cracks in the ceiling she could tell that the sun was already high in the sky. Birds tweeted and flew above them, sending shadows that periodically covered the light.

Snow was standing on top of a huge ledge in the rock on one side of the cave. The rest of IceClan was situated in little pods of cats throughout it.

Once he had all of the cats' attention he began, "We all know who we lost, and we mourn them, but for now, we have bigger problems. Our clan lost a quarter of our clan last night. That's too much."

Several whispers filtered through the air. Snow continued on, "We have lived on this wasteland for as long as any memory, alive or in StarClan, can remember." Here he took a pause, as if what was coming up next was hard to say, "Long, long ago, four clans left us. SunClan, BreezeClan, MoonClan, and FireClan. Their argument was that this territory wasn't what is used to be. That the prey was leaving and so were the trees. They predicted that if any cat stayed, they would soon die.

And I believe now that they were right. This clan isn't thriving. It can barely be called a clan anymore. We all know that some traditions have been lost. Just as our brother, sisters, mothers, fathers, and friends have been lost. And it's not right."

He looked in all of the cats eyes as he said his next sentence, "So, I propose a plan. A dangerous one that could leave few of us left, or save us all. We will follow their paw-steps over the mountains. With StarClan's help, maybe we could find the clans where they are now. And hopefully, we can prosper again. But this will not happen if we stay here. If we stay here, we will all starve to death or die by some animal."

The cave erupted in shouts. Some agreed, some didn't. River's outcry was heard first, "How is my kit going to make it over the mountains? He's too young to make a journey that far!"

Snow nodded his head, "I understand, but we must try. If we don't he will surely die anyway."

"And what about Owl and I?" Ember cried, "We are old, I doubt I could cross the mountains at my age."

"Again," Snow said, "We must try. If we don't our entire way of life will be lost." It seemed like most of the cats were disagreeing. Then Moth remembered her dream. She was flying over the mountains. Maybe that meant that they had to travel there.

Thinking quick she pushed through the crowd of cats that had now gathered at the base of the ledge, shouting up at their leader. She bounded quickly up the few rocks that led to the top and yowled for silence. Shocked that an apprentice had done such a thing they obeyed.

"We have to go across the mountains!" she said, "I received a dream from StarClan last night. I was flying over the mountains like a bird, it led to a beautiful place full of prosper." She elected to not tell them about it burning up with a huge fire. Who knew what StarClan meant by that anyway?

"And why would StarClan send a message to a young apprentice like you?" Jay asked.

She nodded her head, "I have no idea. But they entrusted me with it to convey to you, so I am."

"How can we know you're telling the truth?" River asked again, her tail protectively wrapped around Sparrow.

She looked down at her paws, then at Raven. He mouthed the words 'I believe you' to her. Taking a breath she said, "You just have to trust me. I can't prove my words, but you must trust that I'm telling the truth to you."

Raven shouted from the crowd, "I believe her and you should too! Moth has never lied before!"

Raven's mentor and both of theirs good friend, Pine, added, "She's never not told the truth, even if it means extra apprentice duties. I'll follow her."

Pine was a senior warrior, so that caused Red, Jay, and Vole to agree. Moth twisted her head and looked over her shoulder at Snow. He smirked, "I'll follow any apprentice that has the guts to jump up here beside me." Moth smiled gratefully and nodded her head.

Now, only Ember, Owl, and River needed convincing.

"Ember, Owl," she said, using her best sweet-talking voice she could muster, "I know that it seems daunting. But, the jagged peaks are smaller than you would think. I don't think it would take even a half-moon to travel them."

"As for Sparrow," she said to River, "We could all take turns carrying him. I'm sure among all of us, it wouldn't be hard." The blue-grey queen slowly nodded her head.

"Okay. I'll go." She replied tersely.

Moth nodded her head and smiled, letting a small sigh escape, "And how about you two?" she asked, directing the question to Ember and Owl.

The two old cats had been quietly whispering together since she last talked to them. Owl stood up, "We've decided that we'll go. But you must promise us that you all will not risk your own lives to save ours. We've lived long lives and would be happy to join StarClan any time."

Snow joined Moth at the edge of the ledge, "Alright. We leave immediately. Jay, go check to see if the foxes have left. Make sure that they're not waiting in ambush too." The grey warrior left quickly out of the cave.

The clan quickly descended into loud talking, with everyone getting ready as they did so for their upcoming journey. Snow sighed and softly asked Moth, "Are you sure that it was a sign?"

She nodded her head, "I've never had a dream like that before."

He nodded his head, "Did you see the clans?"

Moth thought about it for a moment, "I didn't see any cats. But I saw such a lush territory that I doubt they would've left. It was huge too, large enough for a countless number of cats."

He laughed a bit, "Was there prey?"

She smiled up at her leader, "Enough to feed us indefinitely." Her mind wandered to the juicy, fat rabbits, mice, birds, and other prey she had seen. Her mouth watered at the thought of sinking her jaws into one of them.

Jay then came running back in. The cave instantly was muted, eagerly listening for his verdict on the foxes. He took a breath, "They're gone. I searched around the bend in the rocks too. Their scent is starting to go stale so I'm guessing they've either returned to our camp or their hole.

Snow nodded his head, "IceClan…move out!" He stared down at the young apprentice, "Moth, you're going to be lead in front along with me."

Her jaw dropped as she followed Snow down the few rocks and out the cave. Raven joined her by her side. When they reached the crack they filed out in a single long row. Jay forgot to mention the fact that snow was lightly falling, giving an ever so thin cover to the surroundings. Snow's pelt melted in perfectly as did her light tan fur.

She looked over her shoulder to see the ranks. Normally she would be in the back of the group, making sure they weren't being followed. But now, that job fell to Vole and Red. In front of them was Ember and River. The first of which was carrying Sparrow. The remainder of the clan was mixed up in a crowd behind herself.

Snow leaned down so his head was next to hers, "Which way?" Moth took in the cold air deeply, visualizing her dream in her mind. It was fuzzy, and hard to remember the exact path. Then, it was as if she had just seen it, and it was as clear as the air she breathed.

"Straight ahead for a little longer, then we'll head straight into the jagged peaks. That'll lead us to a path all the way across." Snow nodded his head and picked up his pace. He was clearly eager to leave this death-ridden territory. It wasn't long before Moth signaled to where they were supposed to turn. At this point, if they took one more step, they would be outside their marked territory.

IceClan halted for a moment, savoring its last few seconds in this place.

"Directly across here are the four clans from the nursery tales." He said under his breath, amazed.

For generations upon generations upon generations they had lived here in this territory. Longer than remembrance. The first leaders had established the five clans here. Lived and thrived and left. And now, they were leaving too. Albeit a bit later than the other clans, but they were still leaving.

Snow took one last deep breath, taking in the scents of their home, and started padding up the slope towards the peaks' pass.

It was slow going considering that every now and then the older warriors would ask to take a moment to rest. River was also complaining that Sparrow would get too cold in the chilly air. In fact, by the time night began to settle they hadn't even entered into the peaks. For shelter they settled on a collection of low scrub brushes. In the sense of warmth, there was barely any. She curled up in a tight ball, covering her head with her tail and burying the rest of the face in her legs. A spark of warmth lit up next to her. She peeked out from her furry shelter and saw Raven curled up next to her. His eyes were already closed but she sidled up closer to him. His black pelt absorbed so much more warmth than her tan coat did.

As she fell asleep she knew that she could always count on Raven to cover her.

The next day was even colder than before. The jagged peaks brought a freezing wind down from their peaks straight through them. Once they had caught a small amount of prey they set out. River still loved to complain about anything and everything.

Moth was in the front of the group, still leading IceClan through the path. She didn't know for sure, but she had guessed how she knew where to go. StarClan must be leading her. That must mean that her ancestors wanted them to leave that forsaken place of death.

The dirt and small grasses quickly gave way to huge rocks and boulders that stuck in their way. Snow even dotted the path here and there. Whenever they saw prey, whether it was a mouse or bird, they tried to hunt it. There couldn't be enough food.

Before long the path began to slope dramatically upward, taken them quickly higher and higher. The air thinned slightly, making it even colder. Moth was even more grateful that she had a long, thick coat. Even if it was plastered against her body from the wind.

The day was quickly passing, with the days beginning to get shorter and shorter as leafbare grew closer. It wasn't long before Snow signaled to stop yet again.

"Moth, Jay, and Red…go try to find some prey. The rest of you spread out and search for shelter. Don't go too far though!"

She followed Jay through the rocks and snow to a flat area. A large amount of grass covered the clearing, making it an ideal hiding place for any amount of prey. The fresh-kill they had caught on the way to their stop had only been enough to keep them going throughout the day. But, with so much travel, they would need more food than usual, which was near impossible in the freezing conditions.

"C'mon," Red said, "We might as well try to find something useful."

Jay snorted, "Ha, that's a good one. Like we're going to find anything to eat in here. I doubt anything lives in the peaks."

"He has a point, Red." When he didn't respond Moth said louder, "Red? Can you hear me?"

"Shh!" the IceClan deputy shushed, "You'll scare it away!"

Moth lowered her voice and sidled up to Red's side, "Scare what away?"

"THE NON-EXISTENT PREY!" he yowled into her ear.

Moth jumped into the air and landed on her side. She scrambled in the snow for a moment, sending wet droplets flying everywhere. Meanwhile Jay and Red had to sit down they were laughing so hard.

Once she regained her balance she shook out her long coat and glared at them, shooting them a death stare, "That wasn't funny."

Jay, in between loud guffaws of laughing said, "You bet StarClan it was!"

She just stared harder before turning into the grasses, "Well, unlike you two, I'm going to try and help the clan." And she stalked into the clearing.

Soon, both of the toms laughing was covered up and she felt utterly alone out there. She crouched in the snow and drank in the scents around her. Most of it smelled like snow and grass…but there it was: a small pinprick of prey-scent. She traced it with her nose until it took over the air around her. She stealthily moved through the grass, hardly making a noise, until she saw it.

It was a mouse, grown fat off the grass seeds. She couldn't tell why it was out of its den so close to leaf-bare, but she didn't dwell on that. Instead she crouched low, waiting for the right moment to make her move. The mouse, which had been nibbling on a seed, suddenly dropped it. Its ears swiveled and its nose began to twitch this way and that.

Knowing that it was now or never she made her move. She pounced through the grasses and quickly dispatched it. Instead of burying it she picked it up in her jaws and carried it back to where IceClan had originally stopped. Jay and Red weren't where she had left them. She made quick glance and saw that their tracks led into the grasses too. She smiled, happy that they had done something useful.

When she arrived back she found that there were no cats to be seen. She dropped the mouse, which was clouding her sense of smell, and followed the scent markers they had left behind. Soon she was at what was their makeshift camp for the night. It was a small clearing that they had made, surrounded by low bushes. She dropped the mouse off in the middle of the clearing and joined Raven, who was busy bathing himself.

In fact, she hadn't really thought of cleanliness since the night Hazel died. She twisted her head around and saw that her coat was filthy, covered in dirt, snow, and other miscellaneous debris.

While she was cleaning her pelt, Jay and Red came back. Red had a small snow hare, mostly skin and bones, but it would do. And Jay had two mice, more than she had gotten. For a moment, she was a bit jealous, but she pushed it to the side. It was good that the clan was eating either way.

Instead of eating, like the rest of the clan had reverted to, she lay down and curled her tail over her paws, which were freezing after treading through snow and frozen dirt all day.

Her dreams, like before, carried her away to faraway lands. This time, it was the forest covered area she had seen before. She knew this because it was as if she had fallen into it, but landed unscathed. She padded around the trees for a time, surprised by the lack of snow considering the season. Prey again easily ran across her feet practically. She wondered, if this dream was so realistic, maybe she could eat in it.

She easily caught a small lark and bit in. Indeed, it felt like afterwards she had really eaten a meal. Then, she saw someone ahead of her, wandering through the forest like her. It was a small black cat, with long fur like Raven. She watched curiously, keeping a distance from her, in case she wasn't friendly.

Suddenly, the black she-cat stopped with her back to Moth. She tasted the air and then sat down and said, "Mother? Are you there?" Was the unknown cat calling to her? Instead, Moth just hid in some ferns and overgrowth, trying her best to stay out of sight.

Just when she was about to give up and reveal herself, a silvery cat stepped forward towards to black cat. Where had this cat come from? Moth hadn't scented anything or anyone. How had she slipped past her?

"Daughter…" the new cat said, "You called for me?"

The black cat nodded her head, "I need to know more about what you said at my ceremony. About SunClan dying…and I saving others."

SunClan? Wasn't that one of the old clans that left? Moth could see the silver cats face as she smiled, "I only know as much as you, Poppypaw. But, there is someone you should meet."

Moth froze, she was sure that the silver tabby was staring right at her. The newer she-cat stood up and called into the ferns she was hiding in, "Moth, will you please come out. We're not going to hurt you." She stayed crouched down for a moment before deciding that if this was some sort of dream, there was no way she could be harmed.

Her voice quavered just a bit when she said, "How do you know my name?"

The silver tabby smiled again, "When you come from StarClan, you tend to know a bit more than other cats."

StarClan! So this must be where she was. She covered up her surprise with another question, "Who are you two?"

"I am Silverswirl." the silver tabby said, pointing her tail towards herself. Next she pointed her tail to the small black cat, "And this is my daughter, Poppypaw. She is the medicine cat apprentice of SunClan"

A medicine cat apprentice…of SunClan…It was all so much to take in. IceClan didn't have a medicine cat. The last one had died long before even her mother's mother was born. He hadn't taken an apprentice so there was no one to carry on his knowledge.

Poppypaw, who had been slightly shocked at an unfamiliar cat in StarClan now asked, "And who are you?"

Moth took a moment before answering to organize her thoughts, "I am Moth, an apprentice of IceClan."

Poppypaw seemed confused as she stared at Moth in wonder, "IceClan," she said, "What is IceClan?"

Moth's shoulders slumped slightly, "You don't know about us?" she asked in shock.

"Be calm young one." Silverswirl said soothingly, "Your clan was transformed into myth by the four clans, and after that, legend, and then forgotten. It is sad indeed. In fact, I have only recently gained knowledge of your existence."

Moth was silent for several heartbeats. The clans didn't know about them at all. There would be no celebration when they returned. No cries that the long lost clan has returned to them. The more likely outcome would be anger. Anger that they were losing territory. Anger that there were new mouths to feed.


	6. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Poppypaw stared at the long-haired tan tabby she-cat in wonder. IceClan…a forgotten clan! Amazing! They must be the other cats that she had heard about the night she became Lilystream's apprentice. Moth looked slightly annoyed that she hadn't known about them. In fact, she looked like she wanted to claw her face off.

"I'm sorry I didn't know about your clan Moth." Poppypaw was at a loss for words after that. What was she supposed to say to a clan from ages ago?

Silverswirl luckily stepped in then, "Moth, near the end of your journey you will meet Poppypaw. She will guide you to your new home."

Her mother then turned to her, "And as for you, Poppypaw. I will help you, but only just enough. This quest will define you for the rest of your life."

Poppypaw nodded her head and thought for a moment, "How much time do I have?"

"You will have until the seventh moon rises from this night. Only seven moons though." Her mother said gravely. Poppypaw's mouth fell slack. She was only had that long to find new territory? It was preposterous!

Meanwhile, Moth's face looked equally shocked. Her tail flicked back and forth while she said, "Seven moons? It's going to take that long! Our clan will never survive!"

Silverswirl nodded her head, "There will be casualties, but not too many. Most of your clan will make it."

While Moth contemplated this Poppypaw examined her. The unfamiliar cat couldn't be more than a moon or two older than her. She was much thinner, even with the long hair, but she had more muscle. Yet she was small enough to still be an apprentice, although she didn't understand what happened to the suffix of her name. Instead of asking she just accepted it.

Moth also had a stoic like appearance. No doubt she had suffered many tragedies in her life in a short period of time. But she had compassion for someone or something. Poppypaw could only guess it was her clan since she seemed so moved at her mother's words. Such loyalty was a prized trait. Not many could have that.

But from her previous panic and her natural twitchiness, Poppypaw could guess that she loved adventure. She loved to move and run. She was probably a good hunter too because of this. Poppypaw was glad she had become so skilled in figuring cats out.

Moth suddenly spoke up, startling Poppypaw out of her surveying, "Poppypaw, I will no doubt need your help. There are very few of us, I cannot say how many because the number may decline, but-"

"Say no more," She cut in, "I will be there to help you. I'll have herbs and shelter and everything you could possibly need."

"Thank you. You have no idea how much this helps me." Moth said. Her happiness seeping out of her pelt. She lifted her head up to the sky, "It is nearly dawn, I must return to my clan. I hope our dreams will cross again soon." With that her figure faded away until she was gone.

"Silverswirl?" she asked.

"Yes daughter?"

The corner of Poppypaw's mouth lifted in a smile, "I'm guessing I shouldn't tell anyone about this, right?"

Silverswirl laughed, "I believe you're right."

Knowing that she would have to wake up soon she thought of one last question, "Mother?"

"Yes Poppypaw?" Silverswirl asked.

Her face fell to a frown again, "Why is it that I never see my father here?"

Silverswirl's next words came thickly, mingled with sadness and grief, "I had hoped that he would've been accepted into StarClan, but it was too late for him. He was a loner when he died. It wasn't until after that did he become a warrior of SunClan. We were just too late…"

She rubbed her pelt against her mothers, "I'm so sorry."

Silverswirl took a deep breath, cleansing most of the grief from her voice, "You must wake up now, somebody needs you."

Poppypaw's eyes suddenly flew open. Pale morning light filtered through the entrance to the medicine cat den. She got up out of her nest and stretched long and low. Lilystream was still asleep, but she had been up late last night, so it was alright. She padded over to the pile of large beech leaves and grabbed one. Carefully she picked out the following herbs and placed them on the leaf as she slid it along: Borage, dock, horsetail, a dried oak leaf, and finally, some ragweed. This was Amberstar's daily dose of herbs. She also had to go fetch some cobwebs from just outside the camp before she carried that and the bundle of herbs into the nursery.

Poppypaw sighed inwardly when she walked in. The SunClan queens and kits were on one side of the nursery, while Amberstar was on the other. But she wasn't all along. Longwhisker was with her, keeping her warm. Even though everybody knew how Longwhisker was tied to her, Hawkstar hadn't done anything yet. She knew he would eventually, once Amberstar left, but for now, he was pretending to be oblivious. Most likely he would be banished.

Her three small kits were finally at the age where they should've been born. They were born about a moon ago. And it had only been a quarter moon since her apprentice ceremony. The three of them were fast asleep, but not for long. Poppypaw softly nudged Amberstar awake. The queen-leader looked bewildered for a moment as she always did before finally realizing where she was again.

She too got up and stretched before saying, "Let me guess, herbs?"

Poppypaw nodded her head and set down the bundle, "Now I don't think we'll have to continue the borage much longer, but until Lilystream says 'stop' we won't stop. Besides," she said as Amberstar quickly gulped down the herb, "Your milk is coming fine."

"The rest of these are for you wound." Poppypaw said as she slowly unwrapped yesterday's cobwebs. The area was bright pink with the area directly around the cut being red still. She sighed, "There's still some pus draining so I'll still need to give you horsetail." Amberstar sighed, hating the stinging that came with it.

"Alright, let's just get it done and over with, okay?" the BreezeClan cat said. Poppypaw nodded her head. She chewed up the fleshy plant and applied it evenly over her wound. Amberstar hissed slightly with pain. Carefully Poppypaw re-wrapped the leader with cobweb.

"You can go back to sleep now if you want." She said as she padded out of the den, done with her work. She returned to the den with the same beech leaf as before. This time she got fennel, dock, and several daisy leaves. Pooltree was complaining that his joints hurt. And Brightstripe, her hips. Dealing with elders was always difficult. For some reason, even though they knew that it helped them, they never wanted to take their herbs. It took a lot of coaxing and a bit of low oaths, but she eventually got them to eat the bitter plants.

By the time she walked out of there the sun was already up. Hawkstar and Blackear were organizing patrols while Lilystream shared a mouse with her sister, Rosebloom. She didn't have to tend to anybody's injuries at the moment so she sought out one of her sisters. She learned from Ivypaw that Mintpaw and Dawnpaw were already busy with training, but Morningpaw wasn't. Her mentor, Fireclaw, had left early for a quick border patrol.

Her sister quickly joined her and the dug into a sparrow. When they were done eating, Fireclaw still hadn't returned so Poppypaw asked, "What's it like being an apprentice?"

Morningpaw tilted her head to the side and thought for a minute, "It's hard. There's a lot of work but I'm sure it'll pay off."

"What do you have to do?"

Morningpaw sighed, "There's apprentice duties, which are horrid. But there's also hunting lessons, war games, fighting techniques. I'm sure if you weren't a medicine cat apprentice you wouldn't mind it."

Poppypaw laughed, "I probably wouldn't."

"You're not having second thoughts are you?" her sister asked concerned.

Her eyes widened, "No! I love being apprenticed to Lilystream. I couldn't think of anything else better to do!"

Both of them were quiet for a moment before Morningpaw asked, "So, just wondering, but when do you think Amberstar will return to her clan?"

"That's what everybody wants to know isn't it? I don't know, but soon I think. Her kits are pretty much fine and although her wound is bad, I think she could make it back to her camp. As soon as Lilystream says."

Her sister's eyes sparkled, "Is she nice? I mean, I've never met her really."

Poppypaw laughed, "She's as nice as a leader can be. She's kind of gruff, but she enjoys what she does. Plus, she's a mother, so she's full of 'niceness' so to speak."

Before she could say anything else she was called away by Fireclaw, who had just gotten back. Poppypaw sighed and returned to the medicine cat den.

She was in the middle of sorting out some piles of herbs that Lilystream had left her when she heard a commotion out in the camp. She dropped the root she was holding and padded out into the clearing with the rest of her clanmates.

Walking into camp along with an escort of several SunClan warriors was Gingerlight, Amberstar's sister and deputy! Poppypaw remembered her from nearly a moon ago. Hawkstar stepped out of his den and leapt up onto the Highstump and yowled for silence.

"Gingerlight, what may we help you with?" he asked, even though he probably already knew.

The calico she-cat cleared her throat, "I have come for Amberstar. She has been in your camp for almost a moon now."

Hawkstar found Lilystream and nodded her up to the Highstump with him. When she sat next to him he started again, "If you don't mind Gingerlight, I think you'd better take up this subject with our medicine cat rather than myself."

"Very well then. Lilystream, is my leader ready to return to camp yet?"

Her mentor contemplated Amberstar's injuries in her head for several tense heartbeats. It seemed as if all the present cats were holding their breath. Finally, she spoke up, "Her kits are doing fine, but her wound is slightly infected. I think she'll be able to make it back to camp though."

"Even the swimming portion?" Gingerlight asked.

Lilystream nodded her head, "If we take it slow and steady, yes." She could hear some of the cats in the crowd sigh in relief.

"Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to take her back with me."

"Hold on." Hawkstar said quickly, "Take Lilystream and Poppypaw with you. They can help carry the kits so Amberstar may concentrate on the trip."

Gingerlight's eyes switched from her mentor to herself before she nodded her head, "That would be a great help, Hawkstar. Thank you."

And that's how it ended up that Poppypaw was padding towards the Great River with a little brown kit in her jaws. Cavekit was as squirmy as ever, never wanting to stay still. It also seemed that she was asking non-stop where she was going.

Amberstar didn't have to carry any of her kits. That would've hindered her and made the trip even longer. Gingerlight carried Windkit and Lilystream carried Lightkit.

Windkit, a small (and they were all small) light gray she-cat, was the quietest of the three and barely made a peep the entire way back. And Lightkit, who looked just like her father, a gray tabby tom, was even sleeping.

As they walked Lilystream, who was walking alongside her, said, "The River's going to be pretty cold since we're this far into leaf-fall. I just want you to know that."

Poppypaw nodded her head, "Why did he have to pick me to go? He knows that I hate the river."

"Poppypaw," she said, "As a medicine cat you're going to have to travel across the Great River sometimes. So you're going to have to get passed this fear."

She nodded her head. No matter what, that river would always terrify her. It was a very long time ago, but she still remembered seeing her mother's body tossed through the raging water like one of the leaves she walked on.

Before long they arrived at a smaller section of the river, just above the bend in the river that led to FourRivers. Gingerlight slipped into the water first, keeping her head up so Windkit wouldn't get too wet. Amberstar went next, and after her, Lilystream and Lightkit. Poppypaw took a deep breath and followed after them. Luckily, at this point in the seasons, the river wasn't flowing very fast.

But, her thoughts drifted to her occasional nightmares. The ones where she was stuck in the raging river, surrounded by death and destruction. She remembered how horrified she was when her sister slipped into the murky brown water. She remembered being the last one on the log, stuck out there until her mother could rescue her. And no matter what, she always felt a small sense of guilt that it was her fault her mother didn't make it out of the river in time.

"Poppypaw!" Lilystream shouted out of the corner of her mouth. She snapped out of her thoughts and found that she was drifting away from the group. Paddling quickly she was able to keep up with them. But for the rest of the swimming portion she didn't allow herself to get caught up in her head.

It didn't take long for them to cross the river. They had landed on some of the smallest, closest together, outlying islands in MarshClan's territory. They were close enough together that they only had to swim in the water a couple more times before they reached the cliff border. This was the side of the cliff opposite the river from SunClan's territory.

Gingerlight led them to a tiny path that twisted up the rock face. She looked hesitantly up at the height. It had to be at least three or four tree lengths high. Taking extra careful steps she followed them up. Instead of looking down or to the side, she looked straight at Lilystream's tail ahead of her. There were some spots in the path that seemed as if they were walking vertically up, but for the most part, it was a gently slope. Then, all of a sudden, she saw rolling green hills again.

"Let's rest here for a moment." Gingerlight called out. They all nodded their heads. The kits were hungry at this point so she set Cavekit down next to her mother. A breeze from the mountains brought the distinctive scent of BreezeClan with it. It was sweet, like fresh grass. Poppypaw then turned her head and finally saw the view the high cliff brought with it.

The other three territories stretched out before her as if she were flying over it. The sun was coming close to setting on the ocean again. All of SunClan's territory was covered in dense trees while OceanClan's was mostly open. Just below her was MarshClan's territory. Again dense foliage shrouded it, but one could tell that it was filled with water just by the scent it brought with it. Farther than SunClan or OceanClan's territory was the twoleg place. It emitted a faint glow in the gradually darkening sky.

This was where her father had came from. She didn't want to think about her father at the moment so she turned to see what was past MarshClan's territory. It was mostly open grasslands with clusters of trees here and there. A hill covered anything else from her view. But, she could tell that there must be another twoleg place because there was another dull glow. It was smaller, but tangible.

"Come on, I think we should get to camp before dark. We wouldn't want to be spotted by any owls." They all picked up their respective kit and set out again. Poppypaw noticed that there was a new spring in Amberstar's tired step. She seemed thrilled to be back in her territory. With the BreezeClan cat's help they reached their camp in no time at all. Unfortunatly, by this time, it had grown dark. Much too dark for Lilystream and herself to travel back.

"Why don't you stay here?" Amberstar said as she padded into her den, a small outcropping in some rock.

Lilystream nodded her head, "Thank you Amberstar. It would be hard for us to return at this time at night."

Some apprentices made up two nests just outside their medicine cat den, which was a circular enclosed area, surrounded by tall grasses. Even here she felt too 'out in the open' so to speak. She was just about to close her eyes when she heard someone padding up to Lilystream and her. Peeking one eye open she found that it was just BreezeClan's medicine cat, Cloverheart. She had a bundle of herbs in her mouth which she deposited in a tiny hole in the ground on the edge of the small clearing. After that she walked over and nudged Lilystream awake.

Poppypaw continued to pretend to be asleep, just in case they hadn't wanted to wake her. With her eyes shut she used only her hearing to know what they were doing.

She heard them walking away a bit so they could take without using extremely hushed voices. Cloverheart spoke first, "I need your help, Lilystream."

"What is it?" her mentor said.

Cloverheart sighed, "I received a sign from StarClan several days ago. It wasn't good…"

"Do you wish to tell me what happened in it?" Lilystream inquired.

There was another deep sigh from Cloverheart. Whatever it was, it must've been troubling indeed. After a short pause she said, "I was standing on the highest hill in our territory overlooking it. Everything was on fire. Everything…And standing there, as if she were oblivious to the heat was Amberstar. There was a cat behind her."  
"Who?"

"Let me finish," Cloverheart said, annoyed at the interruption, "I didn't know who the cat was at the time. Whoever it was, they were thin and lanky. They had pure brown fur and blood-red eyes."

There was another pause before Lilystream said, "You said that you hadn't known who it was at the time. Does that mean that you know who it is now?"

Poppypaw could hear Cloverheart's paws kneading the ground nervously. Her breath was slightly shaky when she said, "I think I do now. I'm almost absolutely sure."

"Who?" Lilystream said so quietly that she almost couldn't hear it.

This time the pause was almost so long that she was sure she must've missed it. She was about to give up when Cloverheart squeaked, "I think it's one of Amberstar's kits. Cavekit to be exact."

Someone's tail was twitching non-stop, rustling the grasses next to it, which was starting to annoy Poppypaw to death since it covered up some of the quieter conversation that followed.

Finally she heard Lilystream talking again, "-oblivious to the destruction around her caused by her loved one. I have no idea what would cause Cavekit to cause something like that, but we'll have to leave that up to time."

There were a few more quiet words exchanged before the medicine cats retired to their respective nests. Poppypaw breathed in deeply and gently to simulate sleeping. Apparently Lilystream believed her because no sooner had she curled up in her nest was she asleep.

Poppypaw's mind, however, was racing. She couldn't stop thinking about the prophecy Cloverheart had received. It was obviously big, otherwise she wouldn't have bothered sharing it with another, differing clan, cat. She twisted her head to make sure that both of the she-cats were asleep.

Carefully, she crawled out of her nest and back out in the clearing that was the BreezeClan camp. She sat in the entrance for a long time, just observing.

BreezeClan's camp was smaller than SunClan and less organized. Their dens were made of bent over tall grasses. The fresh-kill pile was in the middle of camp. Mostly it was birds and hares. The camp was surrounded by steep sloping hills. On one edge of camp there was no hill at all, but a high rock face. It was as if someone had cut off a chunk of the hill and left it bare. There were a series of ledges on it.

Something she noticed that was weird was a huge boulder next to what must've been their meeting place. A high, tall ledge on the side of the rock face, easily accessible by a series of smaller ledges.

The boulder had dirt built up next to it. It had been like that for awhile because grasses were growing on it, but nowhere else. It was artificially put there. She jumped when a voice spoke up from next to her.

"That's where one of our leaders died. She was crushed by a boulder so there was no way we could move her. We just built up the dirt around her."

The voice belonged to a thin golden-brown she-cat. She had white paws, face, and tail-tip. She couldn't be older than herself.

"I'm Honeypaw." The she-cat said, finally introducing herself.

"Poppypaw…" She said, "What are you doing up?"

Honeypaw smiled, "I could ask you the same question."

She smiled, "You got me there. Why did you tell me about your leader though?"

"You were staring at Goldenstar's rock, so I thought you might want to know."

Poppypaw eyed the cat, "Did you know her?"

She laughed, "No, not really. I kind of remember her faintly. There was this whole thing with our leader before her and then suddenly she was leader. Then she lost all of her nine lives when she was crushed by that rock. That's when Amberstar became leader." She said her current leader's name with a bit of venom in it.

"So I take it you don't exactly love Amberstar?" Poppypaw asked.

"Ha," she laughed, "That would be an understatement. Most cats in my clan are utterly furious at her. Just to let you know, there's a large chance she won't be our leader for much longer."

"Huh…I wonder how that would work…" Poppypaw said quietly.

Honeypaw gave her an odd look, "What do you mean? Gingerlight would banish her then go and get her nine lives." She said with a sort of matter-of-factly-duh way.

Poppypaw nodded her head, "I get that part, but it's just that Amberstar still has most of her lives if I'm correct. So, would that subtract from how many Gingerlight gets…"

The BreezeClan apprentice was quiet suddenly. She said next, "I hadn't thought about that until now. But she broke the warrior code, so I'm sure StarClan would give Gingerlight all her lives. I think."

With as crazy as StarClan had been, Poppypaw wasn't so sure.


	7. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Poppypaw and Lilystream left the next day at dawn. Poppypaw nodded at Honeypaw as they left. She knew that she had made a valuable friend last night. Having connections in other clans wasn't uncommon. It was just what you used them for that mattered.

Using them as a mate was not right. But using them as a friend was alright. Plus, she wouldn't be bored if none of her sisters could come to Gatherings. It seemed like the trip back home took less time. Lilystream still had to coax her into the Great River, but other than that, it was easy.

In fact, they arrived back at camp, still slightly wet from their swim, by Sunhigh. Luckily, there hadn't been many major accidents while they had been away. Redfoot had gotten a pretty nasty thorn in his paw, but that was easy enough to remove. After removing that she thought she might take a nap. She had stayed up until nearly dawn talking to Honeypaw.

Honeypaw had just become an apprentice last moon. She would be going to the next Gathering with her clan, as would she. Hopefully she would have time to talk to her again. Mostly she just wanted to know what had happened when they returned Amberstar. Really, she just wanted to know what BreezeClan was going to do.

She padded into the den and curled up in her own nest, which was welcome after those BreezeClan nests. BreezeClan's nests were low, new, green grasses that they found out in the hills. It's not that they weren't very comfortable, it's just that they weren't like the moss and leaves she was used to back here.

Her dreams were uneventful, filled only with fleeting glimpses of some of BreezeClan's warriors. One cat, however, showed up more than the others. It was the kit she had carried back to her home, Cavekit. Something told her that this she-cat was going to grow up to be something larger than life. And not in the good way.

By the time she woke up the sun was just going down. Poppypaw was surprised that she had slept so long. She stretched and ventured out into the clearing. Blackear, Fireclaw, Morningpaw, Feathertail, and Rockclaw were just leaving for a night patrol. Ever since the battle Hawkstar had been sending out a patrol every night, just to make sure none of the rogues returned to seek revenge on them.

Lilystream, who had somehow sat down right behind her without her knowledge, spoke up, "Hawkstar said you could go to the Gathering in a quarter moon."

"Really?" she asked.

Lilystream laughed, "Just as long as you don't do anything to get in major trouble with him before that."

Poppypaw suddenly got serious, "Lilystream? What's going to happen to Amberstar?" She didn't want to out rightly say it but she had taken a liking to the leader. She wasn't as harsh as everyone had always said.

Her mentor looked at her odd, "Why would you want to know?"

"Just curious."

Lilystream sighed and looked up at the stars, which were just starting to show up in the darkening sky, "I wish I could tell you, but I have no idea. I don't think a leader has ever done anything like that before."

Trying to keep her from knowing that she had listened in on her's and Cloverheart's conversation the previous night, she asked a seemingly similar question, "What about the kits. They are half SunClan. If she gets banished, couldn't they come here?"

Lilystream looked down at her in surprise, "I'm not sure that's the best idea, Poppypaw. The more likely thing is that if she gets banished, BreezeClan will either keep them or banish them with her."

Poppypaw nodded her head in understanding. She was just trying to figure out which situation would bring on more anger from Cavekit. That had to be the motivating factor for her. Anger towards her mother or her father or her clan. She just had to figure out which one it was.

She snapped out of her deep thinking when she noticed that Lilystream was staring at her. Her mentor just gave her a sly smile and returned to their den behind them. For being a medicine cat she didn't really ask many questions. The rest of the clan was beginning to go to sleep. But, considering that she had just woken up she thought she might be able to sneak out of camp for some moonlight hunting. Prey was always more active at night anyway.

Luckily there was no one guarding camp at that moment. When she arrived she would just go off the excuse that she had been looking for herbs too late. She hadn't gone far into the woods when she noticed another scent. The trail was fresh, but it was beginning to fade a bit. It was Mintpaw and Dawnpaw. With two of her sisters out of camp it had to be something that she should be in on. She followed it for a ways when another scent joined it, Morningpaw.

She was slightly irked that her three sisters had left camp without telling her. Whatever it was it had to involve her. She realized with a jolt just where she was heading. Right towards the Great River. She stopped dead in her tracks for a few moments while horrible flashbacks of all of them following that traitor to the same spot following the same route at night.

A little more cautiously she continued. Before long the trees thinned out to aspens and other thin wispy trees like those. After those it wasn't long before she came upon the pebbly shore of the Great River. She could see her sister's silhouettes in the darkness on the bank.

This was probably why they didn't tell her, because they knew that she hated it here. She had only gone through it with Lilystream for the group's sake. She swallowed her fear for now and padded up to them.

"Hi there." She said.

All three of them, almost synchronized, turned their heads in surprise at her voice.

Mintpaw spoke first, "Oh! Poppypaw…we were just, uh..."

"It's okay." Poppypaw said.

Dawnpaw stared out into the water, "Do you know what today is?" she said quietly

She sat down next to her and shook her head, "No, I don't"

Morningpaw sighed, "It's the anniversary of our mother's death, Poppypaw."

Her mouth fell open. She had completely forgotten that. She hung her head low as she looked at all of her sisters. They all sat there in silence as the forest became completely smothered in night. Then, they all got to their feet and walked back into the forest. That's why she hadn't been told, they had thought that she already knew and would join them.

Blackear was guarding the camp that night. He just blinked at all of them as they passed him in the entrance. For some reason he didn't say anything.

When Poppypaw got back to her nest she found a moth resting on it. She nearly jumped into the air when she realized she had nearly forgotten about IceClan cats. Quickly she circled around in her nest and fell asleep.

When she opened her eyes she found that she wasn't in the forest like she was used to in her dreams. Instead, she was standing in deep, white snow. Small brush grasses peaked out of the drifts. Her long black fur insulated her from the unexpected cold that she was exposed to. She looked around to try and gather her bearings. Far above her she saw the tops of what she thought looked like the jagged peaks. Huge boulders blocked out any other path than the one she was standing in.

The path was narrow and lined by the flat sided rocks on either side. They were too tall and too steep to get over. She got to her feet and began walking down up the side of the mountain. She could smell something strange, but she wasn't sure what it was. When she came around a bend she was surprised to see a dozen or so cats huddled under a small alcove in a rock. She instantly recognized Moth among them.

These must be the IceClan cats! But she was shocked to see that there were so few of them. Moth was right, if they lost any more, there wouldn't be any IceClan left. Moth suddenly lifted her head and walked carefully out of the jumble of tails and legs. She padded up to Poppypaw and joined her by her side.

"So, I see you've come to me this time." She said quietly.

Poppypaw nodded her head, "There are so few of you…" she whispered.

Moth sighed, "I know. And to top it off, I'm really the only female that can have kits."

Poppypaw's head whipped to the side and she stared at her shocked, "What do you mean?"

"River doesn't want kits anymore since her mate was killed and Ember can't have kits at her age safely. That's why we need to go somewhere else."

"I'm…so sorry. I didn't know that."

Moth shrugged her shoulders, "There's nothing you could've done about that."

They were quiet for a moment before Poppypaw said, "So, what's happened so far on your journey?"

"Nothing too bad. I think we all are pretty tired and cold. Sparrow is coughing which anyone would know is a bad thing."

"Sparrow?" she asked.

"He's River's only kit. He's only about three moons old." Moth explained.

"And I'm guessing you don't have any coltsfoot or tansy considering the climate…"

Moth looked at her oddly, "What are those?"

"They're herbs, to heal." Poppypaw explained. Moth still looked as if she had no idea what she was talking about so Poppypaw continued, "I'm a medicine cat apprentice, it's my duty to know how to heal cats."

Understanding crossed her features, "Oh, a medicine cat. We haven't had one of those for generations." Poppypaw didn't say it but that probably didn't help their situation at all.

"Just keep him warm and protected from the cold. Don't put too much strain on his lungs either so he probably won't do much walking. Hopefully it'll clear up."

"Thank you." Moth said. It began to snow as they sat next to the rocks. Small flakes swirled through the air gracefully. One landed on Poppypaw's nose. She watched as it melted away, leaving a droplet of water sitting on her black nose.

She had a feeling that her time with Moth was up so she said, "I'm sorry Moth, but I must go now. I'm sure there's a cat back in SunClan that needs my help."

Moth nodded her head in goodbye so Poppypaw turned around and walked back down the path. She felt herself fade from her "vision", if it could be even called a vision, and return to a blackness. It took a moment for her to realize that she just had her eyes closed and that she was really awake.

When she opened her eyes she was greeted to the scent of even more fresh herbs. Lilystream was busy sorting out mouthfuls of herbs into their piles. When she saw that her apprentice was finally awake she greeted her by saying, "We need to gather more herbs. I think that the first snow-fall will be here shortly."

Poppypaw nodded her head and said, "Okay, what do we need. I think we have enough catmint to last us a lifetime."

Lilystream glared at her, "You can never have too much catmint, alright?"

Poppypaw nodded again and backed off of the subject, "So, what herbs am I looking for?"

Her mentor sighed and glanced around at the piles, "I think we definitely need more catchweed, borage leaves if there's any left, chervil, and thyme. I think that's all for now. I just hope that we'll have enough to last all of leaf-bare." Just before she headed out Lilystream called out from behind her, "And take a warrior, it's too dangerous for you to be out along!"

"Alright!" she yowled back. She really wanted to defy her but she knew that she didn't know many attack maneuvers. It wasn't really top of the list for things that she needed to know as a medicine cat.

On her way out she peeked into the warriors' den. Unfortunately for her, it was empty. Her cat of choice, Feathertail, was nowhere to be seen. Her eye eventually fell on Brookwing. She was young, but she would do.

"Brookwing," she greeted her, "I was hoping you wouldn't mind joining me while I search for some herbs. Lilystream insisted that I bring a warrior along."

Brookwing nodded her head and followed the young apprentice as she led the way out of camp.

"What kind of herbs did you need again?" she asked curiously.

Poppypaw sighed, "Catchweed, borage leaves, chervil, and thyme." She recited back.

"I think I saw some thyme in the far northern edges of the forest the other day."

Poppypaw looked back at the warrior, "You know what thyme looks like?" she asked incredulously.

Brookwing nodded her head, "I don't know why, but I know for sure that it's thyme. I think there was some catchweed near there too." Poppypaw just shrugged and went with it. Weird things were always happening to that cat since she joined the clan. But, instead of investigating, she just decided to let Brookwing figure it out for herself.

Just like she would have to do. Somehow, soon, she would have to figure out how she was going to help the IceClan cats. If she didn't, she would let them down. And she wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she couldn't save them.


	8. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Moth looked back and forth at the paths. She hadn't been prepared for this at all. In fact, she hadn't expected to leave their territory anytime soon. Yet here she was, standing at a split in the trail. One path twisted and went up and off to the right. The other path led straight upwards before eventually leveling out a bit farther up.

The rest of IceClan waited impatiently as she searched for some sort of answer. StarClan had been leading her this entire time, but within the past quarter moon or so, the internal guide within her and grown fainter and fainter. She had just been glad that the path hadn't done anything like this until now.

"What are you thinking?" Snow whispered in her ear quietly.

Moth sighed, "I'm not sure. Each path looks right, but I just don't know."

He nodded his head to make it look like they were having a productive conversation, "Remember back to your dream. Do you remember any split, any split at all?"

Her shoulders slumped. She closed her eyes in concentration and thought back to that dream from before. It seemed like it happened so long ago. She followed her thoughts to the point where they were now, but it didn't seem to have a fork. Both paths led upward, and that's what her dream did, it went up. There never was a fork.

As she was thinking a chill came over her. Not the chill from the weather as she was quickly growing used to, but an unnamed chill. As if someone, somewhere was watching her. She opened her eyes and examined the paths before them. There was nothing. Slowly, she glanced up at the sheer rock faces for any eyes. Again, there was nothing.

She looked behind her and noticed that the clan had fallen silent. Raven whispered, "I feel…odd…as if there's someone out there."

Moth nodded her head in agreement. It was so quiet, too quiet. The wind had momentarily stopped giving the trail they were on an especially eerie quality.

A screech split the air like a sharp claw. It was loud and high-pitched. But it was too foreign to be a cat. Every hair on Moth's pelt stood on end. She looked about her wildly to no avail.

"Where did it come from?!" River yowled from the group behind her.

"Shh! Be quiet, we don't want whatever it is to hear us!"

She looked at both paths and decided upon the one that went straight up. The echoes of the sound reverberated less from that direction. And no matter what, she didn't want to meet whatever animal had produced that terrible noise.

The clan quickly followed her lead up the slope. Raven walked next to her tensely. She could tell that if he so much as saw a hair of a different animal, he would pull out his claws faster than lightning.

Her breathing slowed down as the creepy feeling she felt earlier disappear. She didn't feel like a thousand eyes were watching her anymore. Gradually, she felt the tension in the entire group settle down. It didn't take long for night to fall again. Faster than she usually did, she found an alcove to sleep in. It was large enough for the clan and had two sides to it, which meant less wind and more warmth.

The clan was just starting to fall asleep when she heard a small commotion from the very back of the 'den'. River was once again making a fuss.

"Sparrow'll be too cold! He's going to freeze to death!" she said to Ember, who was lying next to her.

"I'm sure he'll be fine. You just have to let him sleep now." The elderly she-cat rolled her eyes at the Moth. Moth smiled in return.

"River," she said, "I'm sure your kit will be fine."

"But, he's so cold…" she trailed off.

Moth just shook her head and returned to her spot next to Raven. She curled up next to him, pressing her pelt against his to remain warm. A tingling feeling went from her ears all the way down to her paws. She always felt that way whenever she was around Raven. She didn't fully understand why.

"How are you doing?" he asked earnestly.

She sighed, "I'm not sure. River's always complaining-"

"It's in her nature. It always has been." He explained.

Moth nodded her head in agreement and continued, "And I've told you about how I can't feel which way to go anymore. It's just baffling me."

Raven licked her between her ears, "I'm sure it'll pass. Before long, you'll know exactly which step to take every pawstep of the trip."

"Thanks, I just wish we were there already. And plus, I haven't seen Poppypaw for a bit over a quarter moon. I just wish I could see her soon." She had told Raven about everything. About SunClan, about her dream, and about Poppypaw. He understood her and accepted all of the crazy things that have happened to her.

"Poppypaw will come again. Who knows, maybe she'll be able to help you." He said. His voice got quieter, "Goodnight Moth, see you tomor…" his voice trailed off as he fell asleep.

She sighed and pulled her tail over her nose. She only hoped that this night would be the night the SunClan apprentice returned to her.

It seemed like her eyes had only just closed when they opened again to the blinding white of the mountainous snowy terrain. She had had no dreams at all. Not even any dreams of prey or warmth.

Instead it was cold and freezing. But it was the reason of her waking that alarmed her more than anything. She had heard that screech again, and it was closer. Her pelt prickled with uneasiness.

"IceClan, wake up!" she somehow quietly yowled. She said it just loud enough for all of the cats to hear her but not the mystery monster.

Most of them sleepily got to their paws and grumbled about why they had to be woken up.

"Shhh…Just listen." She whispered. They quieted down and strained their ears. Even Moth was about to give up when the screech sounded again. It was even closer than it had been when she woke up.

She saw Snow's eyes grow wide in alarm. River's eyes grew wide, but in terror and horror.

Snow stood up to his full height and addressed the clan, "We have to move now! Whatever that beast is, we don't want to meet it."

Several moments later they were on the move again. Moth ended up being the cat to carry Sparrow this time. The small kit slowed her down some, but she was still able to keep up.

Snow led the clan up the rocky path instead of her. While they were running she came up with an idea. She signaled for Jay to take the kit while they were running with her tail. He sidled up to her and grabbed Sparrow's scruff.

After Jay securely had the kit she sprinted up to Snow. Through her heavy breathing she yowled, "We need to find a cave or a hidden alcove or something like that!"

Snow nodded his head, "I had just thought of that. And we need to find it as soon as possible." Moth nodded her head in agreement and began to search frantically for any possible outlet. Suddenly she heard a yowl of terror from the back of the group. She whipped around quickly to see what had happened.

From down the pass a bit she saw something she never wanted to see again. Where they had just been sleeping stood three of the most terrifying beasts she had ever seen. They were cat-like creatures, three to four times the size of even Snow. But, unlike him, they were jet black. Their sharp yellow eyes searched for their prey vigorously. Their paws along were nearly the size of her face and their claws made them even bigger.

There were no barriers to disguise their call this time. It was ear-piercing and likely to drive one insane. Moth's ears flattened back completely at their shrill shriek. It didn't help that the sound reverberated around the tall, enclosing rock walls around them.

"IceClan, run!" she yowled to her stunned clanmates. Her voice seemed the shock them back to life and they all began to run once again.

"Everybody, search for somewhere to hide from them!" Snow ordered.

They ran along for a bit longer that she would've liked. The snow began to fall again and covered their tracks. Suddenly she heard Raven beside her gasp.

"What? What is it?" she asked quickly.

"There! There's a cave over there!" he pointed out.

She followed his gaze to a place she hadn't noticed just moments before. It was well concealed underneath a pile of especially large rocks. The remnants of some long-forgotten earthquake no doubt.

Snow spotted it too and signaled to the clan to follow him. As soon as they got the entire clan in a terrible thought dawned on her. They still could be scented by the large cats. And if they were, they could follow them in there.

"Quick," she shouted, "See if there's another exit further in!"

There was panic for a moment before Red shouted up from the back, "It's small, but we can fit through it!"

"Good, now help me make these rocks fall in front of the entrance!" For a moment, no one dared move. Then she started again, "Unless you all want to get eaten alive by those beasts!" Vole and Pine, who were closest, helped as she rammed her body against the rocks that seemed to be holding up the cave's entrance.

Suddenly, with a loud crash, the rocks clattered forward and sealed them all in the cave. After the show and dust settled they were quiet, searching for any sound that would indicate the monster cats. She heard almost nothing except for some sniffing. Then, it went quiet.

She could literally hear the collective sigh from the clan as everybody loosened up. Snow was the first to speak. She could see his white pelt through the opening that Red had indicated earlier. He stood to his full height and said, "I think that Moth has proven she is more than capable of being a warrior on several occasions thus far. Therefore, I would like to commend her to StarClan as a warrior." Raven joined her by her side and pressed his pelt against her. It was only until then did she realize how badly she was shaking from a combination of terror and excitement.

Unfortunately, since they were in a cave, he couldn't look up to their ancestors in the sky, so, instead, he looked in her eyes, "Moth, you have shown yourself capable and ready to be a warrior of IceClan. You have a strong determination and courage; therefore, I commend you to the rank as warrior in your turn. Do you accept this?" he asked.

She steadied her breath before replying, "I do."

She could see the corner of his mouth raise in a smile, "Then, by the powers given unto me by StarClan, I hereby raise you to full status as a warrior of IceClan. Hopefully you'll be able to pass on all of you great skills to an apprentice someday."

"Moth, Moth, Moth!" the clan shouted her name three times, but not too loud as to alert the horrible animals lurking outside. In a surprise move, Snow also made Raven a warrior. He was not expecting it but whole-heartedly accepted it.

Normally, they would hold a silent vigil after becoming warriors, but under the circumstances, that wasn't possible. After Raven's ceremony they all filed out of the back entrance of the cave. The terrain they met outside was more rocky and treacherous than the previous one. There would be a lot of climbing ahead of them.

By the time of sunhigh they had reached the top of an especially large pile of rocks. Sadly, she could look straight down them and see the area where they came out. Moth stretched while she waited for the rest of the clan to regroup on top of the largest rock. The snow was falling a bit more heavily than before, but she could still see down into the valley that lay before them.

It was a steep drop down from the point they were at. But if she squinted hard, she could make out the path they were going to take for a while. This pass led mostly straight ahead until it went straight into the shadow of a huge jagged-peak. It was large enough that the snowstorm clouds hid the top of it from view. And, by the looks of things, they were heading straight up that peak.

She was jolted out of her thoughts as Jay reported to her that all of the cats had joined up once again.

She sighed and turned around to see them. They were all panting heavily and she could tell that they were starving. She glanced around to find any food source, any at all, but there were none. Moth only hoped that there was prey in the valley. Mice, stray birds, or maybe even a snow hare if they got really lucky. Her day-dreams of prey sent water to her mouth. She choked back her hunger to address the clan.

"Cats of IceClan! We only need to get down this hill into the valley for today. Hopefully we'll find food down there and shelter. As they always say, 'It's always easier to go down than to go up!'" she finished cheerfully.

As Vole began to lead Ember down she heard a whisper in her ear, "Who's 'they' exactly?"

She nearly jumped as she recognized Owl's voice behind her. She had been hoping that no one would notice that, "Uh…Our elders I believe. Our ancestors up in StarClan."

He snorted, "Yah sure." He rolled his eyes, "And who died and made you leader?"

Moth narrowed her eyes and retorted hotly, "Well who made you so wise, huh?"

He whipped around, "Just because you saw some hocus pocus dream doesn't mean you're automatically the smartest cat in the clan! You probably had just eaten a bad mouse that night!"

Her ears grew red-hot as she replied to him, "Do you doubt StarClan? That's a very treasonous thing to say if you are!"

Owl padded up to her until he was less than a couple of whiskers away from her face. His lean, muscular body outsized her by a lot, "I don't doubt them. No, I would never do that," he said way too calmly, "I only think that the wrong cat slept through that fox attack."

Her mouth fell slack and before she could think of a nice comeback he had already started down the slope. Raven padded up to her then and looked for what she was staring at so curiously, "What's wrong, Moth? You look…well, you look downright furious."

At his comment she took several deep breaths and stopped her tail from twitching so fast. After her nerves were at peace again she told him what Owl had said to her. This time, it was Raven's turn to get angry, "Of all the no-good, terrible, horrible, dirty, mouse-brained, fox-dunged…." He continued on for a bit longer, reciting every curse he knew. Moth was shocked at his behavior. It wasn't like him to act so defensive.

"Calm down, Raven. He was just being a jerk. Now come on, or else we're going to fall way behind." She said, indicating that they were the last two left on top of the rock. Even River and Sparrow had started the descent into the valley.

He took a deep breath and only nodded his head. She could still tell that he was mad about her and Owl's fight.

There wasn't much time to talk as the path down was treacherous and rocky. One wrong footfall and she had a one-way ride to the bottom…and her death.

So, with no talking, all that was left for her to do was think. The first thing on her mind was why Raven had reacted so hotly when she had told him about her fight. Just because she had one cat (hopefully it was just him she thought) that didn't like her wasn't cause to get so hot and bothered.

Then again, whenever his mentor, Pine, had told him off she had felt like she had wanted to go and yell right back at him. Maybe it was something about them being apprentices at about the same time. She gave up on that issue and moved on to what Owl had said to her.

The simple and most obvious explanation was this. He had said that the wrong cat had slept through the attack, so he had meant that he wished that she and her brother, Cloud, had had their places switched that day. But he had never really liked Cloud. He did, however, like Cloud's mentor, Frost. Frost however had gone back to save him and had been devoured by the foxes.

So he blamed Moth in a way for her death. If it was her in the camp then it would've only been her and most likely Raven that would've died. Raven wouldn't have abandoned her. She only wished that she could somehow prove to Owl at some point that even though Frost had died, it would still end up alright in the end.

The moon was already high in the night sky by the time they all regrouped at the base of the cliff they had just descended. Most of them stretched their legs or started to search for prey. When Moth and Raven had finally reached them a cave-like structure had already been found to sleep in for that night. So, while Red, Jay, and Snow left to find food, the rest of the clan busied themselves with clearing out the lighter snow. There was, unfortunately, a thick layer of built up ice that was impossible to get rid of.

Their disappointment over that point was overshadowed by happiness when the hunting party returned with a jaw-full of mice and some sort of plant with large tubers. The plant didn't look appealing, but it was at least something. Snow divided up the mice and tubers evenly among the cats. Moth shared one mouse with Raven and Pine and two tubers. The plant tasted to earthy and wet considering it had been covered with snow.

What she really craved was a good fat rabbit, or even the common mole. She had heard from stories that squirrels were supposed to be pretty good too, but they didn't have the forests that those types of animals liked. She shook her head to somehow banish the thoughts of food from her mind. There were bigger things to worry about right now.

As she settled down for sleep she wondered what sort of horrible thing would be awaiting them next. As long as it wasn't those terrifying cat-beasts, she didn't care.


	9. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

When she opened her eyes next she was standing in a forest. It seemed like the one she had been at before, but it was covered in leaves. All of the trees were tainted with reds, oranges, yellows, and browns. It was unlike anything Moth had ever seen. There were no trees back in their old territory, so it was something new to see trees in leaffall. She waded through the leaves carefully, she didn't want to step on a sharp rock or thorn.

Before she knew it she was standing next to a thorn-bramble wall. It was reinforced by sticks of all shapes and sizes. But the wall didn't last long as it was soon overtaken by huge towering trees. They looked very old by their size. She followed the barrier until she came to a hole. With the rest of the wall looking so well taken care of, she guessed that this hole was there for a reason. Crouching down she squeezed her way through and found herself on the other side of the trees.

Wherever she was, it was magnificent. A large stump surrounded by small stones and boulders stood in the center of this clearing. One downed tree on the far side created some sort of den. The huge trees from before cast their reaching limbs over the camp, creating a wonderful canopy of colors. There were more holes in the barrier, but they led to well-fortified dens. They were all huge and full of cats. She could only assume that this must be SunClan's camp.

One of them was full of so many cats that it must have been the warriors' den. Another had fewer cats, but still there were almost more than IceClan had warriors. They looked to be just a bit younger than her so she guessed that it was the apprentices' den.

As she ran across the clearing to another den she noticed that the stump she had seen earlier was hollowed out and moss hung over the entrance to it. She poked her head in and saw a single cat sleeping in it. He was a large brown tabby cat with black markings on his face. He had numerous battle scars too. She could only guess that this was SunClan's leader. She strained to remember his name if it had ever been mentioned, but she couldn't remember. Giving up she backed out and continued on her self-guided tour.

The den she had been heading to earlier had three queens in it. One of them had two kits and the other had three while the other smelled of milk, but didn't have any kits next to her. They were still small, but it wouldn't be too many moons before they became apprentices. And even though they were queens, they still looked strong and fit for a battle if there was one.

Moth walked back out into the clearing and sat down on her haunches in astonishment. There were so many cats in this clan! More than she could ever begin to dream of, even though she was dreaming! She let her eyes sweep over the clearing again and noticed something she hadn't earlier. It was a small hole in the ground. Sort of like what IceClan used to do to keep their prey from rotting.

Curious to see if her intuition was right she got up and padded over to check. She was correct. In the hole were several mice, birds, rabbits, voles, and some sort of bushy-tailed animal that resembled a mixture between a mouse and a rabbit. She grabbed a mouse and eagerly tucked in. In no time flat the creature was gone.

Moth had already been in this place for what seemed a lifetime when she noticed that she still hadn't seen everything. She bypassed the fallen tree den for another den in the very back of the camp. Inside were two very old cats. Moth assumed that this was the elders' den. Although why any cat would give up being a warrior to her was a mystery. On her way back she decided to see what was in the fallen tree.

Piles of herbs and plants lined the walls of this den. Four or five cats were sleeping on what looked like temporary mossy nests in the front. Further back were two more cats. Moth instantly recognized Poppypaw's black-coated figure. She thought about going to wake her up for a moment before she realized that the scent of sickness hung in the air.

She had forgotten that Poppypaw was a medicine cat apprentice! That must mean that those cats were sick! And no matter what, she didn't want to carry any trace of sickness to IceClan. That would be one of the worst things she could do.

Luckily for her, she didn't have to go in to wake up Poppypaw. Within seconds of her entering the medicine cat den, the apprentice woke up. Her eyes flew apart as if she was wide awake. It was rather frightening to be perfectly honest. The she-cat's black coat bristled for a moment at the sight of an unfamiliar cat, but she calmed down when she realized who she was looking at.

Poppypaw got to her paws and glanced down at her mentor to make sure she was still sleeping before she wound her way through the outstretched limbs and tails of the sick cats. As soon as she reached the IceClan warrior she whispered in her ear, "Let's go out into the forest, we can talk without having to be so quiet out there."

Moth nodded her head and followed her out of the vast SunClan camp and out into the even bigger forest. They walked for a time before coming to a sheltered hollow. The leaves were just as thick here as it was in the rest of the territory.

"So, how's IceClan doing?" Poppypaw asked as soon as she sat down.

Moth shook her coat to fluff it up a bit more against the cold before replying, "Alright, if that." She told the SunClan cat all about the freezing conditions and then about how they were finding less and less food for the clan. Poppypaw seemed troubled about everything. Obviously things weren't going too well at her clan either.

Apparently a queen named Birchface had one kit that had become sick. And of course that queen was going to fret over it like crazy. Tansykit as she was called was starting to show signs of Greencough, which wasn't good at all. Plus, there were several other warriors showing signs of the deadly cough. Moth pretended to know what she was talking about even though she had no idea.

Her thoughts had travelled back to her clan in the jagged peaks. She was worrying about them so much that she apparently hadn't noticed Poppypaw talking to her.

"Moth? Moth? Are you there?"

She whipped her head back to Poppypaw's, "Oh, yes, sorry. I was just thinking."

"Of?" the black she-cat asked.

"Of what?" she asked, puzzled.

Poppypaw rolled her eyes, "What were you thinking of?"

"Oh! I was just thinking about my clan. I'm worried about them."

"Well," Poppypaw said, "You only have about six and-a-half moons left if I'm right. In fact, you should be here two moons after Tansykit is apprenticed."

"Oh, um…alright…"

Poppypaw laid her tail on Moth's shoulder, trying her best to comfort her, "I'm sure you'll be okay. I know its cold there, but it can't be much worse."

Moth laughed hollowly, "Unless you're being chased by some primordial monster cat." Poppypaw looked confused so Moth explained what they had seen. Her confusion soon changed to horror.

"I've heard of them before…but I can't remember where…Why can't I remember…?" she questioned herself.

Moth shrugged, "If you remember at some point, let me know. But for now, I'll just try my best to avoid them."

Poppypaw nodded absentmindedly. She was obviously deep in thought about the huge black cats she had described to her. Even now, she couldn't get their demonic yellow eyes. The way they looked at them with a famished hunger. Their huge muscles bulging underneath their thick black pelts. Not to mention their large, thick claws and teeth too. They were something out of the deepest nightmares of a haunted soul.

She shuddered involuntarily at the thought of them. She only hoped that they would never have to meet up with them again. Her thoughts again travelled back to where her clan was situated. She tried with all her might to recollect where they were. Her dream was quickly fading from her memory.

She was again snapped from her thoughts by Poppypaw asking if there was anything else she needed.

Moth nodded her head, "I haven't been able to see a clear path through the jagged peaks for awhile now. It's really beginning to worry me. Do you have any answers to that?"

Poppypaw inhaled deeply, "I'm not sure. It's not really my field of expertise. It's StarClan's."

"Is there any way to contact them? I know that since you're a medicine cat and all—"

She was stopped by a thin laugh by Poppypaw, "I know I'm a medicine cat, and I'm supposed to have a stronger connection with StarClan, but I've only been so for a half moon! Plus, I can't exactly summon StarClan at my will; they have a mind of their own."

Moth nodded her head sadly, "I understand. I was just hoping."

The SunClan apprentice looked at her sadly, "I can always try though. Would you mind if I talked to my mentor about this? I'm not sure if StarClan would approve, but under the circumstances, I think it's necessary."

Moth nodded her head with a new vigor, "That would be wonderful! How long has she been a medicine cat?"

Poppypaw's eyes widened, "For a very long time. Before my mother was even born!"

Moth laughed happily, "I'll bet that she'll know so much! Maybe she'll be able to help me find my way!"

Poppypaw smiled sadly, "I'm sorry that I'm not much of a help…"

"No! You've been loads of help! You have no idea how great it is knowing that this wonderful life and wonderful cats like you are awaiting us once we cross these cursed peaks!"

This helped the young she-cat perk up a bit. She got to her paws and began leading Moth once again out of the hollow. The air seemed keen to bite her as they quickly padded through the chilly woods. It didn't take long before Poppypaw, who knew the forest better than her, to lead them right back through the entrance into camp. They padded down the small slope and into the clearing.

The clouds cleared for a moment to show what could easily be mistaken for as a full moon. The bright disc shone for a moment or two before disappearing behind more clouds. Poppypaw sighed, "I don't like not being able to see StarClan for so long. The clouds are always covering the sky."

Moth hadn't really noticed until now. There were always clouds covering the sky where IceClan had been and where they were travelling through now.

"Is that bad?" she asked innocently.

Poppypaw's visage twisted into a frown, "I'm not sure if it's an omen, but if it is, then it isn't a good one."

"Well, I'm sure this bad weather will pass and you'll be able to see the sky again. I haven't seen it for well over two moons. Well, except one weird night, but that was only one time."

Poppypaw looked at her with such an expression of surprise and horror that Moth wasn't sure how to respond properly.

"Over two moons?! That's absolutely unbelievable!" she exclaimed.

Moth just looked on uncomfortably, "You get used to it really."

Her long black fur just swayed back and forth as she shook her head and mumbled about how unnatural that was, "No wonder you left that place! I can't imagine what it must've looked like! No stars…no sky…ugh!"

Moth couldn't help it, she burst out laughing. She wasn't used to someone not knowing the conditions that they used to live in. She told Poppypaw about her old territory in a flurry. She made sure that she didn't leave out a single blessed detail. She ranged from the cave they used for safety to the vast grass plains dotted by one or two ancient, rotting, tree stumps.

Poppypaw's jaw dropped when she said that there were no forests. Her response was a loud gasp and an exclamation of, "What? No forests…none at all!"

She eventually had to stop her description when she noticed the early signs of oncoming dawn. The sky was turning from a deep black to an ashen grey. By the time she said her goodbyes there were light streaks of pink tingeing the sky.

Moth braced herself for what would happen when she opened her eyes again. She was greeted by a blasting wind of snow and bits of ice. Somehow, while she was asleep, they had gotten caught in some sort of freak storm. She bit back a scream that had risen in her throat at such an unexpected feeling. Raven was already awake and standing with his back to the storm. His normally black fur was half white from all the snow.

She stiffly got to her paws and did the same. She saw that she was the last one awake and all of the IceClan cats were huddled in a circle. River and Sparrow were in the middle since they were the most vulnerable.

Steadily she built up her strength to scream, "We have to get moving! If we don't we'll all freeze to death right here!"

She was met by looks that told her that they thought she was a lunatic. Instead of waiting for some sort of vote, she grabbed Snow and Raven and began to walk on the path again. The other cats, not wanting to get left behind by their leader and guide began to follow. They didn't get far that day because the wind kept on holding them back. If the conditions had been good, they might've been able to start on the next peak. Unfortunately, they had only just reached its base when night fell.

The only positive was that they had found a cave. It was half-covered in ice, but it was still better than being out in the storm. And, as they found, there were a variety of animals in it. Mostly mice, but also lost birds that hadn't made it past their migration over the peaks. It was easy enough to catch them since they had nowhere to go. Moth only hoped that they wouldn't have to stay in here for much longer. The storm would have to pass quickly if they were to survive.

Thankfully, when Moth opened her eyes the next day, she was greeted by an amazing sound. Nothing. No wind, no nothing. Sadly, they had to begin to scale the particularly large peak. Nothing could prepare her for how arduous it was. There were no other paths to take but straight up. At times the trail took a sharp u-turn as it still went upwards. But it was such a thin path that they all had to go single-file.

They spent the entire day with no food and no sight of anywhere to stop for the night. She was just beginning to give up any hope of finding shelter when she spotted a tiny hole off to her side.

By squeezing through it they were able to enter what must be the beginning of a labyrinth of caves. There were more mice in the cave thankfully. Catching them was another thing though. It took a long time, but they all eventually had their own mouse. She hoped that these would last them another whole day.

Just as she was falling asleep she felt a prodding at her side. She lifted her head to find Sparrow butting his small head against her flank. Amused, she got up and said, "Yes, what is it?"

He stared up at her with his wide, green eyes and asked, "When are we getting back to the nursery?"

Moth's smile fell from her face. She bent down until she was nearly eye-level with him, "I'm sorry, but we're not going back there. We're going to a new home."

Sparrow's face became downcast, "But I left my favorite moss ball at my nest!"

Moth wrapped her tail around the small tom and began to walk him back to his mother, "I promise that as soon as we get back, I'll make you another one."

"Really?!" he asked excitedly.

Moth nodded her head. She made sure that he was fast asleep before she lay down again next to Raven. She wouldn't have to keep her promise though. By the time they reached the new territory, Sparrow would be an apprentice.

She sighed; everything would be different when they reached their new home. Then there would be the fact that they needed more cats in their clan. If they didn't get more she-cats soon, there would be no way to continue IceClan.


	10. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Poppypaw awoke early that morning. She had opened her eyes just after Moth faded away into the night. After stretching she got to her paws and padded outside of the den. She was sick of being cooped up with coughing cats every night. But, she would learn to live with it. She just hoped that Tansykit would heal soon. She padded up to the fresh-kill hole, which they had recently dug since the weather had turned so cold, and searched for a good piece.

Oddly enough, there was an eaten mouse lying just outside the hole. Usually a SunClan cat would bury their prey after they ate, not leave it out for some other animal to find. She sniffed it to find out whose prey it was and was shocked to scent Moth on it. Had she been able to eat in their shared dream? Poppypaw shook her head and brushed it off as not being able to sleep very well.

She settled on another small mouse and ate it quickly. Tansykit and some others would need their daily dose of herbs if they were to get healthy. She returned to the medicine cat den and rooted around in some piles. She decided that a small amount of catmint for Tansykit would be alright. The other cats were showing symptoms of very mild whitecough, so she decided that she would just give them a bit of tansy and chickweed. Hopefully that would cure their cough and prevent them from getting greencough.

Through a bit of coaxing she was able to get the kit to swallow the herb. She was unsure of what it was, but was happy that it tasted better than the previous herbs she had been given. Lilystream woke up then and started helping her. Poppypaw suddenly jumped as if she had been shocked.

Lilysteam looked at her with a worried expression, "Is something wrong?"

Poppypaw shook her head, "Tonight's the night of the Gathering!" she mewed excitedly.

Her mentor smiled, "So it is. And I've already secured it with Hawkstar that you're coming with."

Poppypaw nearly jumped with excitement. She had been waiting for this for a half-moon, ever since she had been made an apprentice. Lilystream looked as if she was about ready to burst with laughter at the sight of her apprentice so jumpy.

Then, she stopped. Poppypaw suddenly turned on her mentor and fired out, "Have you ever heard of huge black cats in the jagged peaks?"

The question took Lilystream by surprise. She hesitated for a moment over a pile of burdock root before sitting down. She seemed to be deep in thought. Poppypaw was beginning to get uncomfortable when her mentor looked up, "Go ask the elders. I feel like I heard something once from them when I was a kit…" she said thoughtfully.

As Poppypaw padded out of the den she sighed in relief. Lilystream always knew when it wasn't the best time to ask questions. She had promised that she would tell Lilystream about everything, but now that she was awake, it didn't seem like the best idea. StarClan had given Poppypaw this assignment, and she wanted to complete it on her own.

As usual the elders were fast asleep when she brushed past the now-dead flower clump into their den. Pooltree was sprawled out across a nest that usually would hold two cats. Brightstripe, however, was neatly curled into a tight ball surrounded by tree roots. From experience she knew better than to go and wake Pooltree up. So, she carefully gave Brightstripe a few taps with her front paw.

The retired queen lazily opened one eye. Seeing who it was she slowly stretched and got to her paws.

"Wha' d'ya want?" she slurred.

"I-I was wondering if you knew about a certain animal?"

The elderly she-cat gave a wide yawn and said, "Wha' type of animal?"

Poppypaw slowly described the monstrous beast, careful not to leave out any detail that Moth had given her. Brightstripe's tired look soon changed to puzzled, which then changed to disgust, "That sounds horrid, absolutely terrifying!"

She sighed, "So you haven't heard of it?" she said dejectedly.

"I'm sorry, but if I had at one point, it seems to have slipped my mind." Poppypaw nodded her head and turned to leave the den when Brightstripe piped up, "But that doesn't mean that no cats from other clans have. Ask a BreezeClan cat, I'm sure someone from their clan might have heard of what you're looking for."

She really hoped so. If she couldn't find out what it was, that meant that she was failing the IceClan cats. If only Brightstripe's mind could remember the animal. Knowing the she-cat she probably had heard of it, but unfortunately, her mind was starting to go. It happened to some cats as they aged.

The day passed by quicker than she expected it too. Finally, as night began to fall, Hawkstar leapt up onto the Highstump and announced who was going to the Gathering. He, Lilystream, herself, Squirrelbird, Brookwing, Badgerstorm, Dawnpaw, Fireclaw, Morningpaw, and Oakstripe were going. Mintpaw looked downhearted to not have her name called, but she must've understood that Hawkstar couldn't take everyone with.

The forest was exceptionally quiet that night. Only the sound of rustling leaves and their pawsteps penetrated the darkness. It would've been eerie on any other night, but not this night. She nearly bounced along with the rest of the group as they made their way to the south-west. Four Rivers would be right across the ancient log and on the opposite bank. It didn't take long for the thick trees to begin thinning out. In their wake were the wispy birches and aspens.

Then, they too disappeared leaving only tall reeds and other grasses. They cut their way through these until they came upon a pebble-filled shore. The rocks were all worn smooth by constant contact with the water. Their grey-black color brought back visions of that terrible night so many moons ago…

She shook her head violently; she didn't want any bad thoughts to ruin this night. This was her first Gathering and she wasn't going to let anything ruin it. She watched carefully as Hawkstar crossed the log. He padded across it so smoothly and quickly that it looked quite easy. Blackear went after Hawkstar, then Lilystream went next and then it came time for her turn. She took a deep breath and carefully clambered onto the log.

It was smooth as the pebbles on the shore. Several cuts had been worn into it, telling her where other cats had slipped on its surface. She made sure that all four of her paws were on the flattest part of it and set out. Lilystream watched her from the opposite bank nervously. Suddenly, her paws slipped. She felt her weight get thrown off onto one side. Like slow-motion she saw herself slowly heading straight for the black water.

Then, someone caught her scruff. Brookwing, who had been right behind her, and grabbed Poppypaw just in time before she fell. The calico warrior threw all her weight to the opposite side of the log and hauled the medicine cat apprentice back up onto the log.

"Thanks." Poppypaw said breathlessly.

Brookwing smiled, "No problem, you would do the same for me."

She nodded her head and quickly got to the other side of the log. She was glad that she didn't have to go into the water. She hated it more than anything else.

Once all of the SunClan cats joined them on the other side, they set out for the short trip to the middle of the island. The moon still hadn't reached its peak, so they still had enough time to talk with other cats.

They came upon the clearing quite suddenly. It was huge, large enough for possible all of the clans to fit into in an emergency. One gigantic tree rose up on the west side of the clearing. By jumping up on some lower branches they could reach the thickest one. That must be where the leaders sat considering the extensive scratch marks on that particular branch. The rest of the clearing was inhabited by small boulders and ferns. And not to mention, cats.

BreezeClan, who had the longest journey of all the clans to the Gathering place, still hadn't arrived. So, Poppypaw decided that she'd go and talk to a cat she knew, Whisperpaw. She had last met him at the half-moon, when she had been made an apprentice. He was talking to some OceanClan apprentices (she judged this by their size). Tentatively she padded up to their group. He stopped talking for a split second before loudly welcoming her, "Poppypaw! This must be your first Gathering, right?"

She was shocked at how friendly he was acting, "Uh…yah, along with two of my sisters."

A cream-white she-cat with black markings on her ears, muzzle, and paws stepped forward, "Hi, I'm Streampaw, from OceanClan."

Poppypaw greeted her. The other two cats, who looked just like her, were her brothers, Floodpaw and Riverpaw.

She listened to their conversation, which was mostly centered on the topic of which food tasted better, fish from the river, or squirrels. Whisperpaw and Poppypaw both vouched for squirrels, which were abundant in their territories, but the other three swore that fish were the best.

A thought suddenly popped into her head. She turned to Streampaw and asked, "How did Mintpelt get all of those scars?"

The talking stopped and she turned to Poppypaw with wide eyes, "You mean to tell me that you've never heard?"

"Well, I-I meant to ask Lilystream," she stuttered embarrassingly, "But I never got the chance."

"Wow," Floodpaw said, "I thought everybody knew about that!" When Poppypaw shook her head he continued, "Well, when she was a young apprentice—"

"Which was _ages_ ago!" Riverpaw added.

Floodpaw gave his brother an annoyed look, "Yes, well, anyways…When she was an apprentice, she wandered really far from camp."

"And she ended up in the twoleg place by accident." Streampaw said, finishing her brother's sentence.

Floodpaw continued despite his sister's interruption, "Then, some nutty cat attacked her along with, like, five or so other cats. What did he call himself…?"

"Offenseur!" Riverpaw exclaimed, "I think it means something in those cats' language."

Poppypaw nodded her head absentmindedly. That was the full name for the cat that her leader had rid them of several moons ago. The cat that had killed so many. Including her father…

Before she could comment on that there was a commotion from the east side of the clearing. BreezeClan finally walked into the clearing. Gingerlight was leading them and it was she who leapt up onto the leaders' branch. The BreezeClan cats were silent as they took their place in one section of the clearing. Hawkstar, Robinstar, and Troutstar joined her on the branch before she yowled for silence.

Hawkstar spoke first, "SunClan has done well this past moon. We were glad to welcome Mintpaw, Morningpaw, and Dawnpaw as warrior apprentices. We were also able to welcome Poppypaw as our new medicine cat apprentice."

Troutstar went next, "Prey has been running well in OceanClan lately. We were sorry to see Fluffyears join the ranks of StarClan, but we know that he is happy there." There were a couple murmurs of dissent concerning the elderly tom's passing, but they quickly were stifled as Robinstar spoke.

"MarshClan also has done well this past moon. Two of our apprentices were made warriors; Emberfur and Lichenstripe." Congratulations rose from the surrounding crowd. But they too, were quickly quieted as it came time for Gingerlight to speak.

She cleared her throat loudly and began, "Within the past moon we were able to receive Amberstar back into the clan. But, as is the warrior code, we could not condone her blatant disregard for the aforementioned code." Poppypaw couldn't help but notice how formal her speech was. She also couldn't help but notice how nervous the young she-cat seemed.

Gingerlight continued, "So, with a heavy heart, I was forced to banish Amberstar out of the clans. She will also have three kits travelling with her if you were to see her. You all know what you are to do if you were to see her." Her eye travelled to Hawkstar, who was famous for taking in any cat in need. "If we receive word that any clan is harboring her, we will invoke our rights and attack."

"In other news, I have travelled to the Mooncave and I have received my nine lives. My name is now Gingerstar. One apprentice was made a warrior also, Doveflight."

The clearing went completely quiet after Gingerstar's report. She looked around for several awkward seconds before she leapt down from the branch. Her clan followed out after her. As soon as they left the Gathering place seemed to erupt with noise. Some were crying out that it was horrible to turn out a queen and her kits, not matter how much they broke the code. Others seemed delighted that someone was finally taking the code into consideration, unlike the SunClan cats.

Poppypaw just stared after Gingerstar in stunned silence. Her mind immediately jumped to the overheard dream of Cloverheart's.

She was snapped out of her thoughts though by Whisperpaw. Robinstar was stalking out of the clearing, fuming about Amberstar's banishment. He mouthed 'goodbye' as he ran off to join Crowrain. Poppypaw turned around and spotted Lilystream on the other side of the clearing talking to Mintpelt about something.

As soon as she joined her mentor it was time to go. Hawkstar, who was relatively calm, led his clan out of the clearing. She could tell that Lilystream was busy with her own thoughts so she just walked alongside her on the trip back to SunClan camp.

As she went to sleep that night she kept on coming back to BreezeClan. She somehow felt that if, and this was a remote possibility, if Amberstar were to suddenly show up at their camp, Hawkstar would probably graciously accept them into the clan. She still wondered why he hadn't done anything to Longwhisker yet. Maybe his punishment was him having to hear all about his former mate and his kits and how they were punished. Then, maybe Hawkstar would do something about him.

Poppypaw just stared at the intertwined twig roof of her den in silence. Somehow, she knew that she was going to end up getting involved in this dirty business. Maybe not now, maybe not in a moon, maybe not in seasons, but she would get involved.

A half-moon passed with no word about Amberstar. But, there were always distractions to take her mind off of that. Petalpaw had finally fully healed enough to return to her apprenticeship. And, from what Poppypaw heard, she would be made a warrior as soon as Ivypaw completed her final assessment, which was that day!

Petalpaw had come flying into the medicine cat den just after Poppypaw woke up. She was busy giving herbs to Tansykit, who was almost healed of her cough.

"Lilystream! Poppypaw!" she half-yowled.

Poppypaw jumped to her paws quicker than lightning, "What is it!? Is there an attack?!"

Petalpaw laughed, "No, I was just wondering if you could make sure that all my scars aren't bleeding our anything."

Poppypaw's shoulders drooped in relief, "You nearly scared me half to death! And no, as I told you all of yesterday, your wounds are perfectly fine!"

"I'm sorry I keep asking. It's just that I want to look perfect for my warrior ceremony. Badgerstorm was telling me that I look fine, but I didn't belief him."

"Well," Poppypaw commented while she picked up some of the herbs she dropped in her excitement, "You should learn to believe what he says. You look fine."

Petalpaw nodded her head and left the den. Poppypaw sighed; she hated lying to her clan members. It wasn't that Petalpaw didn't look fine; it was just that she looked better than she had before. Her entire right ear was gone, leaving only a stump. As was her eye. Huge scars marked where the fox's teeth sank into her face. She had large scars running down her right side too where the fox had clawed at her. Petalpaw must've been pretty at some point, but not so much anymore.

But she was so nice. Her kindness made up for the fact that she had been mauled nearly to death. She heard a yowl from outside.

"All cats old enough to catch their own prey will join here beneath the Highstump for a clan meeting."

Poppypaw stretched and led Tansykit to Birchface in the nursery before joining the crowd. Lilystream had just gotten back from collecting the last of the herbs in the forest that they needed. The frost would soon kill everything else off.

Meanwhile, Hawkstar stood up above his den with an extremely proud look on his face. Poppypaw wondered about it for a moment before she remembered that Petalpaw was his daughter. He signaled for the clan to be silent and began.

"I, Hawkstar, leader of SunClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn."

Hawkstar leapt down from his perch and stood in front of his daughter, "Petalpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?"

Petalpaw was beaming with happiness, "I do!"

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Petalpaw, from this moment you will be known as Petalshine. StarClan honors your patience and kindness, and we welcome you as a full warrior of SunClan."

Hawkstar rested his muzzle on Petalshine's head and she licked his shoulder.

Poppypaw joined in loudly when the clan shouted her name the traditional three times, "Petalshine, Petalshine, Petalshine!"

Hawkstar then repeated the ceremony for Ivypaw, who was named Ivyfrost. Then, he turned to Rosebloom's kits, who were sitting just outside the nursery.

"I believe that three our kits have now reached the age of six moons." Rosebloom gently pushed Sparrowkit, Berrykit, and Mosskit forward towards their father.

Hawkstar happily gave his kits their apprentice names and assigned them their mentors. Sparrowpaw was given Brindlenose, Mosspaw to Squirrelbird, and Berrypaw was given to Rockclaw.

She also noticed that their first duty as apprentices was to help expand the apprentices' den. Poppypaw realized that it almost seemed that apprentices were going to outnumber the warriors! She laughed all the way back to her den.


	11. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Poppypaw woke with a start. She glanced wildly about the den for any sign of some unknown dark creature. Sighing, she got to her paws and stretched. Every night for the past one and-a-half moons she had gone through the same routine. A horrible beast, as tall as a tree, would be chasing her down a snowy, rocky path. Its piercing eyes would stare at her endlessly while it bared its horrendous teeth. The teeth reminded her of the pointed rocks in the Mooncave, but they were missing the shiny stones. And with every step she took, it would get closer. She had woken up this time just before its huge sharp claws sunk into her flesh.

Instead of taking herbs straight to the elders like she usually did in the morning, she decided to grab a bite to eat with one of her sisters. She was, unlike the dream, not imagining the snow outside her den. A cold, bitter, leafbare wind seemed to cut straight through her. Poppypaw fluffed up her fur a bit more and made her way to the apprentices' den. She greeted Blackear along the way, who was starting to rouse some warriors for a dawn patrol. The apprentices were all fast asleep, probably without any dreams troubling them.

It was warm and cozy in their den since there were so many more cats to warm it up. She padded to her sister that was the closest to the entrance, Dawnpaw, and nudged her awake. Dawnpaw, whose short tabby coat wouldn't stand a second against the wind outside, awoke with a rather dazed expression.

She swiveled her head this way and that, trying to understand what was happening and why she was awake. Finally she spotted her sister and yawned widely before saying, "Wha' didja wake me up f-f-for?" she finished, unable to stop another yawn.

Poppypaw rolled her eyes, "I was hoping you'd feel up for a bite of prey before the day began."

Dawnpaw's eyes furrowed as she peeked behind Poppypaw to the camp outside her den. She shook her head and lied back down, "The sun isn't even up yet, Poppypaw." She complained.

"Well you'll be up soon anyway; you and Badgerstorm have dawn patrol with Blackear, remember?"

Her sister sighed in defeat, "Fine, fine. But this is the last time you wake me up at the crack of dawn just because you can't sleep. My name doesn't mean I like to be up early."

They quickly gulped down a small mole before Dawnpaw was ordered away by her mentor. Poppypaw stared after them wistfully. In a small way, she wished that she could be doing something fun like her sisters for once. Lately, without any sick cats, she had been confined to the den. Lilystream was making her sort out piles of herbs while reciting all of their uses.

She still loved being a medicine cat, but she just wished that she had more to do. She was about to walk back into her den when she heard low, rushed voices from inside. Poppypaw paused for a moment before straining her ears to hear every quiet word.

"—It won't work and you know it!" a voice unmistakable for Lilystream said.

"It would work if you just tried. You have avoided me for almost an entire twelve moons." It sounded like Blackear, but then again, she hadn't heard him talk a lot.

There was a hint of…was it sadness or nervousness…in Lilystream's voice when she said, "You don't know the entire story, Blackear."

"Then tell me already! I know you've been covering something up. Thrushtail knew what it was—"

"And he wouldn't have told you either!" Lilystream snapped.

There was a small pause before Blackear said, "Lilystream, you know you can trust me…please…"

Lilystream sighed heavily. It sounded as if the weight of the world were on her shoulders, "I'm sorry, Blackear…I simply cannot tell you…even if I wanted to."

She could hear someone rise to their paws. It must've been Blackear because she could hear his voice getting closer to the entrance, "Fine then. Don't tell me. But I will eventually figure it out."

Poppypaw backed up several paces and began to casually walk towards the den, as if she were just now returning. Blackear passed her again, but he was walking with a definite anger in his steps.

"Oh, Blackear, are you sick?" she asked, faking her concern. He just shook his head quickly. "In that case, there are cats waiting for you. You do remember you're leading a patrol, right?"

His eyes widened as he flew to the entrance and finally led the waiting cats out through the thorn tunnel.

Poppypaw took a deep breath and entered the medicine cat den. She could see that Lilystream had already gotten a head-start on the herbs. And, although the she-cat was doing her best to cover it up, she could still sense a certain air of sadness that hung over her.

And so it happened that she once again spent all morning listing out all the uses of poppy seeds and how some tree barks were actually useful.

She was glad, then, when at sunhigh (or what would've been sunhigh had the grey, storm clouds not been hanging low overhead) Hawkstar called a clan meeting. For a brief moment she wondered why Nightkit and Coalkit were sitting up front next to the Highstump when she realized that they too were about to be made apprentices.

It didn't take long for Hawkstar to complete the ceremony. Nightpaw, whose pelt resembled Poppypaw's, was apprenticed to Feathertail. She gave her mother-figure a broad grin when this was announced. Feathertail had always been there for her when she was a kit. And plus, she deserved another apprentice after her last one, Brownpaw, was killed by those ruthless rogues.

Coalpaw, who resembled a coal in all aspects, even down to his light orange eyes, was apprenticed to Oakstripe. Now there were only a few, mostly young, warriors who didn't have an apprentice yet. But, it wouldn't be too long before Ripplepaw and her sisters were made warriors. Hopefully that would clear out some room in the apprentices' den.

After saying her congrats to the new apprentices' she returned to the den. Carefully she piled celandine, daisy leaves, and comfrey root onto a beech leaf. She wrapped up the herbs and slowly carried them the short distance to the medicine cat den.

Usually she only brought the daisy leaves and the comfrey root since they helped with inflammation of joints, but today she had to bring the celandine since Pooltree had been complaining about his vision.

When she reached the den finally she noticed that only Brightstripe was present, and she was sleeping in her usual spot; in between the root system of a nearby tree.

Poppypaw sighed and gently woke up the elderly she-cat. Brightstripe's eyes fluttered open and she sat up stiffly, "Lemme guess? Herbs again?" she asked sleepily.

"Yes, and Pooltree's got some too. Have you seen him at all?"

Brightstripe slowly stretched her limbs and glanced around the den, "No, not since he went to go get some prey this morning."

Poppypaw's eyes widened, "This morning?! Brightstripe, it's past sunhigh!"

The old she-cat's eyes furrowed in concentration, "But…that means that he's been…he's all alone…"

Poppypaw dropped the herbs and flew out of the den. Faster that lightning she raced along the perimeter of camp, skirting the openings to the various dens. He wasn't in the apprentices', warriors', nursery, or Hawkstar's den.

"Oh no...oh no…" she muttered under her breath. She then looked wildly about for Hawkstar. Finally she spotted him coming from the dirtplace and she raced up to him, "Hawkstar! It's Pooltree, he's missing!"

Her leader's eyes flew wide open at once, "Missing? How…where…when?"

She told her exactly what Brightstripe had told her and that Pooltree wasn't in camp. He laid his tail on Poppypaw's shoulder, "I'll personally lead a patrol looking for him. He can't have gone too terribly far in this cold. Don't you worry Poppyp—"

His words were cut short when Ivyfrost, who had been out hunting, ran into camp howling, "There's a badger! I scented it near the meadow!"

Poppypaw's heart seemed to drop through the ground. Pooltree was out alone, with a badger on the loose, and he could hardly see!

"Dear StarClan…" Hawkstar said under his breath. Then more loudly he shouted, "Pooltree's out there all alone. We need to find him! Rockclaw, Ivyfrost, Blackear, Gorsepelt, Brookwing, Deerswift, Molenose, and Ripplepaw will fan out and search for him. We need him rescued as soon as possible. Force him to come back, don't let him resist!"

The cats whose names were called out quickly raced out of the den. After a day of foreboding storm clouds, it finally began to snow. It covered up everything as they waited. Brightstripe was with Lilystream, both of whom were sitting very still near the entrance. Feathertail paced back and forth nervously as she always did when her mate was in harm's way. Rockclaw's apprentice, Berrypaw, was also sitting at the entrance to camp. Only he wasn't still at all, he was as fidgety as a bird. Every now and then he would stand up suddenly, walk around camp for a bit, only to sit in the exact same spot as before.

This brief reprieve from her medicine cat duties gave Poppypaw time to think. She was slightly ashamed that the first thing on her mind wasn't Pooltree, it was Moth. She hadn't spoken to her for nearly two moons now. And she only wondered what had become of IceClan. Hopefully Moth was just too busy to waste her resting time using up more strength. That was what Poppypaw hoped it was. That is what she clung to.

Soon, the sun was setting bringing on an even colder night. Lilystream led Brightstripe back to the elders' den where it was warmer. Berrypaw, still anxious, reluctantly returned to the den at Sparrowpaw's insistence. However, Poppypaw remained where she was, sitting at the entrance to her den.

Lilystream, returning from the elders' den whispered, "You should get some sleep."

Poppypaw looked down at her paws, "What if he's hurt? We need to stay up in case he's wounded."

There was the smallest of pauses before her mentor said, "It's been a very long time, Poppypaw. I don't think that he'll be returning with any wounds."

It took a moment for her to register what Lilystream had said. By the time she looked up her mentor was padding across the camp back to the entrance. Instead of listening to her mentor she continued to sit where she was. Her long coat seemed to help a bit against the biting cold.

Suddenly, her vision was dimming. Was she falling asleep? Poppypaw opened her eyes wide, but to no avail. She panicked for a moment as her entire world went dark. In fact, she couldn't hear or smell anything either.

Then, her vision came back, but she wasn't in the camp. She also wasn't in control of her body. It was as if she were looking through someone else's eyes.

Whoever it was was looking about wildly in terror. They were running in between trees and brambles, trying to escape something. There was a sudden pain in their hindquarters. Soon, they stumbled and rolled through the snow. When they looked up they could see blood following their tracks and a huge animal looming up on them.

It had a long, flat body and a long, pointed snout. It was mostly black with a white stripe right down its spine. Its paws were ended by enormous claws which must've caused the pain. Poppypaw had never seen one, but this must be a badger.

Also, she saw Pooltree's striped pelt out of the corner of her eye. It took her a moment to realize that she was Pooltree. She must be seeing things from his eyes. They scrambled in the snow to their paws before the badger reached them. But it was too late, it was too close. It raised one, heavily clawed paw up. But, before it could swipe at them, they heard a yowl.

Hawkstar seemingly came out of nowhere and attack the badger head-on. But it shook him off onto the ground. It raised its paw again and brought it down on Hawkstar's side. He screeched in pain, but got up again and attacked the animal with a new fury.

She…er, Pooltree stayed on the ground, petrified in fright. They could hear more cats coming, but they were still far away. The huge badger batted the leader to the ground with such ease that the cat seemed little more than a fly to it.

With Hawkstar bleeding profusely on the ground it turned to them. Poppypaw, using her own mind, deduced that Hawkstar was losing a life by the way he shuddered and shook like a leaf then lay still. Her mind then joined with Pooltree's again as they saw the bulky figure of the badger bearing down on them.

There was nowhere to go anymore, nowhere to hide. They closed their eyes in unison, not wanting to look death in the face. Briefly they felt themselves getting tossed this way and that before a huge set of teeth clamped firmly on their neck. Then, everything went completely black.

When Poppypaw opened her eyes next she was lying in the snow in camp. She was gasping for breath as if she couldn't ever have any more. Lilystream had joined her by her side, looking extremely concerned.

"What did you see?" she whispered urgently.

"I…Pooltree…Hawkstar…" she struggled for words to explain what had happened, but none came.

Lilystream looked slightly panicked, "Do they need us?" she asked.

Poppypaw nodded her head.

"Alright, I'll grab herbs for wounds and we'll go out and meet them."

Again, all Poppypaw could do was nod her head. Lilystream sighed and ducked into the den. She still had an extreme feeling of panic and terror hanging on her fur. She just couldn't get the image of the badger looming over her…or Pooltree...or whatever that was.

Moments later Lilystream emerged with two, bulging bundles of herbs wrapped up in beech leaves. Poppypaw grabbed one and followed her mentor out of the camp. They walked for awhile in the general direction of the tracks in the snow, which were steadily being covered up by new snowfall. It didn't take long for them to find Pooltree after they caught the heavy scent of blood.

The first thing they saw was the entire patrol Hawkstar had assembled gathered in between several large trees. A huge badger lay dead in the snow at their feet. Hawkstar, who Poppypaw had last seen losing a life, was now being supported by Blackear and Gorsepelt. Another cat lay in the snow…unmoving.

Most of them looked puzzled to see the medicine cats joining them so soon, but decided against asking about it. As they drew closer she could tell that the dead cat was indeed Pooltree. She shuddered as she realized that she had been connected to him as he died.

They set down their bundles of herbs and set about wrapping up Hawkstar. He wasn't happy about the attention, and told them more than once to take care of the other cats, but Lilystream wouldn't listen. Poppypaw chewed up a paste of dock, goldenrod, and horsetail and applied it Hawkstar's wounds. Then, with Lilystream, they wrapped it up in cobweb.

The other cats' injuries were far less severe. Ivyfrost had a cut above her eye that was bleeding pretty bad and Molenose's paw looked like it had been sprained, but that was the worst.

"What're we going to do about that?" Blackear asked, pointing out the huge body of the badger, "We can't just bury it in the snow."

Hawkstar nodded thoughtfully, "There's always the Great River. That would carry the body away."

"Yes," Deerswift said, "But how are we going to carry that thing all the way over there. That's practically on the other side of the territory!"

Hawkstar shook his head, "For now, we'll cover it in snow. Right now, we need some rest. Hopefully then we'll be able to figure out what to do with it."

They all agreed on that point. Rockclaw and Gorsepelt continued to help Hawkstar back to camp. Deerswift, Ivyfrost, and Brookwing draped Pooltree's battered body across their backs. They left, leaving Molenose, Blackear, and Ripplepaw to bury the beast.

When they arrived back in camp it was already beginning to get light out. Lilystream immediately ordered that Hawkstar was to stay in his den for the day, which he again protested against.

They laid Pooltree inside the medicine cat den and then those cats too went to bed. Poppypaw would've loved nothing more than to sleep at that moment, but it wasn't an option. Lilystream grabbed a mouthful of nice scented herbs and dropped them next to his body.

As dawn began to arrive, Poppypaw busied herself placing lavender, rosemary, and mint in strategic places on his body to hide the scent of death. This also left their den with a very heavy scent in it that was beginning to make Poppypaw light-headed. The next thing she knew they were carefully placing Pooltree's body in the clearing so that he could be properly mourned by those that loved him.

And now, since it was morning, she had to give Brightstripe her daily herbs. She had now been up for more than an entire day.

She also had to convince the elder to take poppy seeds too since she was so fond of her den-mate.

After a quick mouse with Morningpaw, who asked questions non-stop about what had happened the night before, she retired to her den. Lilystream was nowhere to be seen, but that didn't stop Poppypaw from sinking into her nest and falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.


	12. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

AN: For anybody wondering about the clouds; IceClan only travelled through the storm clouds, not the wispy ones you would see on a clear day. Storm clouds are significantly lower than those. So therefore, the mountain they are climbing is probably only 7,000 to 8,000 feet high. But, the summit does contain some unlikely scenarios that probably can't happen. But that's the joy of books, right?

~Nicki Anne

Raven nudged her awake from her short sleep. She opened her eyes slowly to see that they were still on the stupid jagged-peak. Snow was sitting at the entrance of the small cave-like structure they had found a couple of days ago. They had had to wait for a particularly nasty snowstorm to pass before they could continue climbing.

Moth nodded a greeting to Raven and padded up to her leader, "What are you thinking?" she asked hesitantly.

He didn't look at her, but continued to survey the surrounding, "I'm thinking that we're going to have to leave again soon…today."

Moth nodded her head. Ever since she had lost her sense of direction she had given up most of the leading power back to the leader, as odd as that sounded. Owl seemed keen on torturing her with the fact that she had no idea where to go almost every second of the day.

She joined up with Raven again at the fresh-kill pile which had accumulated over the past several days. The cave they were hidden in was full of mice and bats. The bats were not the best tasting prey, but they would have to do considering the circumstances. She grabbed one of the bats and, along with Raven, quickly ate it in anticipation of more travelling.

Finally, Snow announced, "IceClan, move out!" Everyone grabbed some prey since they weren't sure how long they would go again without food. Luckily, they didn't have to carry Sparrow anymore since he was finally old enough to walk a long ways by himself.

They were still climbing slowly, yet steadily, up a huge jagged peak. A bit before the storm hit they had entered the clouds. It was an eerie feeling, walking into it. She felt as if she were touching the top of the sky, skimming it with her tail and head. And then, all at once, they were submerged in what appeared to be a really bad fog. It got bad enough at one point that they all had to touch someone else with their tail in order to stay together.

But now, the clouds seemed to be thinning out a bit. They were becoming more of a thin mist rather than the heavy fog of before. But still, Moth's pelt seemed continually damp. The wetness made her coat heavy and therefore, everybody had to slow down. Even Red, who had the shortest coat among them, still was hampered by the mist.

They travelled for several days like this. Only knowing the complete darkness of night and the grey light of day. Then, one day, the cloud cover broke. It took Moth awhile to realize it since it had gradually died away. She stopped for a moment and examined her surroundings. There was less snow here, but it still covered everything. All grasses were gone from the sheer rock around them. Cautiously, she approached a cliff near them. Below she could see the slow-moving grey mass of storm clouds. Their puffiness made it look as if she could fling herself off and land safely on them, but she knew better. Below them was nothing but air until you hit the base of the jagged peak.

"Moth!" it was Snow. She swiveled back from the cliff to face him. He looked uneasy. Behind him the clan was making a camp in a sheltered part of the rock-face.

"Are you sure you know where we're going?"

It was the question she had been dreading. The one she was hoping he wouldn't ask. Moth had never been good at lying. Ever since her mother had asked her if Raven and she had snuck out of camp one night. Even when she was that small. She swallowed and thought of Poppypaw in SunClan and nodded her head forcefully.

Snow sighed, "Alright, but the rest of the clan is becoming uneasy. This journey is so much longer than we thought it would be."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I wasn't sure how long it was going to take, but I'm sure we're getting closer. I know it."

There was a yowl from by the cliffs. Both of them, in unison, swung around and sprinted for the source of the noise. Although it was Jay who had yowled at first, now the entire clan had joined. Ember, even in her old age, seemed to be as young as a kit with the way she was bouncing.

"What is it!?" Moth asked, slightly worried at the sight of the elderly she-cat acting so odd.

"Look at the cliff…Look!" Sparrow pointed his tail near a small boulder. There were small cuts near the rock…wait…those weren't cuts! They were scratch marks! She padded up to them slowly and unsheathed her own claws.

The noise died down as IceClan held their breath collectively. She held up her paw and lightly ran her claws down one of the many scratch marks. They fit nearly perfectly. The only difference was that these marks went much deeper than her claws could even touch. She tried several others and they were all the same.

"They must be from other cats! They have to be!" Ember exclaimed.

"Yes," she agreed softly, "I suppose so…"

The rest of the night was consumed by the joy of the scratch mark discovery. It was all anybody could talk about. To them, it confirmed that they were indeed going the right way. But to her, it could be a sign of something worse.

The other clans had left so long ago. Long enough to the point where she seriously doubted that scratch marks would still be on the surface of the rock. Not to mention, deep enough that even her claws didn't touch the bottom of the scratch. One cat couldn't have created all the marks since they were slightly different widths. That meant that, unless up to a dozen cats had extremely long claws, they weren't made by any cats.

Her thoughts travelled to the huge black cats that had chased them. They hadn't seen, heard, or smelled them for so long. But now these marks sent a chill down her spine. They didn't fit.

The next morning they set out at a steady pace. A vicious wind whipped them seemingly from all directions as they continued their ascent. Ravenpaw walked next to her on her right side like always and Snow on her left. Owl walked behind them, looking angry as usual. Pine was arguing with Red behind him and she couldn't tell what any other of the clan was doing since they were far off.

Another blast of wind from what seemed above them brought with it the odd scent of something she hadn't scented for a long time. A watery scent. Not that of snow, but of a pool of water. She sniffed the air for the scent again, but there was nothing.

She seemed to be the only one who had scented it, so she decided to not mention it. As they day wore on, the path began to curve and flatten out. Because of this they were able to pick up their pace as it took less energy to travel up that type of terrain. The rock wall next to them was slowly becoming shorter and shorter too.

The sun was beginning to set when their path suddenly flattened completely and opened up. Before them was a huge lake. She could barely see the distant shore. It was almost completely flat on the summit. Large boulders dotted here and there, but other than that, she could see the edge of the mountain far off in the distance.

All of them stood there, awe-struck. The wind had ceased to batter them, leaving an odd lull in sound. Moth, almost unconsciously, padded up to the water's edge. It was completely clear. She could see every single rock in the bottom of the lake. Then, quite suddenly, something darted out of her vision.

It was a fish! They would have real food! Several others who had joined her also spotted the prey and shouted it out to the rest of the clan with excited exclamations of happiness. This was better than those scratch marks they had all loved.

Moth just sat down, utterly exhausted. They finally had a place to stay for awhile and re-coop. They would be able to build up their strength here for the rest of the journey. Somehow, and she didn't know how, she felt as if this was only a half-way point. She knew that they still had a lot further to go before they would be able to reach their destination of SunClan.

Raven had joined her by her side almost like a breeze, he had been so quiet. They sat together, watching the clan, for some time. Then he spoke up.

"Moth?" he asked quietly.

"Hmm." She replied.

"I've been thinking, and not just recently, since when we were apprenticed, about something."

She looked at him, curious, "What's that?"

He raised his eyes so that they were looking deep into hers, "I…I think, no, I know, that I love you. I always have and I always will."

The profession of love took her by such surprise that she could only stand there, gaping at him. She swallowed slowly, "I…uh, I…" her words were lost in her throat.

Luckily, Snow joined them, "Moth, might I have a word?"

"Yes!" she said quickly…too quickly.

Raven narrowed his eyes, "'A word' is more than I can get apparently." He stood up and stalked off to join the rest of IceClan at the water's edge.

Snow stared after him for a moment, clearly confused, "Well, er…" he said awkwardly.

She shook her head, "Ignore him. What did you want?"

"Oh, well, I wanted to know if…well, if this is the place from your dreams?"

Moth stared at him, slightly shocked, "The top of a peak? Here? Of course it's not!"

"It seemed so nice here though…" he trailed off.

She let out a breathy laugh, "It's on top of a mountain! We can't live off of just fish for the remainder of our lives Snow!"

"I know that!" he snapped, "I was just thinking…"

She waited for him to continue, but he sat looking past her shoulder, staring off into space, "Well?" she asked, slightly angry.

"Oh!" he snapped out of it, "I've decided. We're going to stay here for awhile at least. We need to recover from that part of the journey. It was so long and hard on everybody. Especially the elder warriors."

He clearly meant Ember and Owl. However, she could care less about Owl really. He was always so horrible and angry. Ever since they set out on this journey. He had been fine before, but now…now he had time for his anger to fester like a sore. It was gnawing away at him making him worse and worse to be around. He might be an elder, but she didn't care.

"Alright, I understand. But we will need to move out soon."

"We'll move out when I say so, I am the leader, remember? Not you." He retorted hotly.

"Uh, of course, yes. I'm sorry Snow." She quickly apologized. She hadn't realized how demanding she had been becoming.

Snow nodded and left. She sat down in the snow with a sigh. The entire clan would be mad at her for her wanting to leave. But she knew that there was something wrong about this place. It just didn't seem right. It was much too open and exposed. Plus, she couldn't stop her mind travelling back to the scratch marks. Those were too unnatural.

Moth watched a small group of three break off from the clan. No doubt they were off to find some shelter. There may be less wind, but it was still extremely cold. She got back to her paws and looked around. Her eye caught something in the snow not far off. She walked to up to it cautiously. It was a small skeleton of what looked like a baby goat. Some of the bones were shattered while the others had gauges in them. She bent down to examine them closer. They resembled bite marks from a huge animal.

The bones were old though, too old for Snow to care about them, but nonetheless, they still raised her hackles. She felt as if she were being watched nonstop by some unknown thing. Her thoughts drifted back to the huge beasts from before.


	13. Chapter Twelve

_**Part II**_

"_It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light."_

_-Aristotle Onassis_

Chapter Twelve

The fish were abundant in the lake. So abundant were they that every night every single cat had enough to fill their bellies. River hadn't even complained once since they had arrived at the summit of the jagged peak. She wondered how the fish got there, but as soon as she started eating it, she ceased to care.

A small patrol had found a tiny cave, well, more of a hole than anything else, which they all could fit in. Normally, Raven would've slept next to her, but for the past half-moon he had slept across the hole next to Jay and Red. Instead, she slept next to River, Sparrow, and Ember. And although she was extremely upset about this change in her normal, if it could be called that, daily life, she had worse things to worry about.

She and Poppypaw hadn't communicated for awhile and it was starting to worry her again. What if something had happened to the SunClan cat and she didn't know? What if she was dead…beyond the realm of communication…

And she didn't have anyone to confide in. Her best friend, who wanted to be more than that, wasn't even speaking to her. The only cat she could talk to near normally was Snow, and even that got awkward at times.

She got to her paws and walked out of the hole-cave-den. Owl, Ember, and Red were fishing for some food while River, Sparrow, and Vole were exploring a little ways away from their 'camp'. Snow was sitting on top of a flat rock, keeping watch.

Sighing, she padded up to him through the thick snow. She knew that he wouldn't be happy by what she had to say. Moth had been extremely uncomfortable up here for a half-moon. That eerie, she-was-being-watched, feeling never ceased to go away. Every time she turned around she swore that she saw a dark shadow or smudge moving in the distance. The goat skeleton never left her mind's eye.

"Snow?" she asked when she was finally within earshot of him.

"Yes?" he replied, standing up and stretching before leaping off of the rock next to her.

She took another deep breath, "I…I really do think we need to move on. We've stayed here much too long. Something about this place…it's just not right."

He shook his long white coat and stared off into the distance, "I was just thinking about that. What if this is the place that the ancient clans arrived at. But since then they've just died off. It was quite a long time ago."

Moth shook her head, "No…It was a forest I saw in my dream. Next to a large river that led to a giant lake. A lake where the sun drowned itself. There were green hills and running prey. It was one-hundred times as amazing as this place seems to you all."

Snow stared at her, "You're sure? There was grass? There was abundant prey?"

"Yes." She left out the part about the flames that soon scorched everything. Whatever that was about she didn't know. But she was determined to find out what they symbolized. When she got to talk to Poppypaw again, she would ask.

Her leader sighed heavily and closed his eyes, "Alright. Two sunrises will be enough, then we'll leave this place. I've been getting the feeling that we're being watched."

Moth frowned, "Me too."

That night Snow announced when he had decided. It was met by a chorus of groans and angry shouts. They wondered why they wouldn't stay where there was plenty of prey and water. Where they had a comfortable place to sleep and take shelter.

"Silence!" the leader yowled. The IceClan cats fell silent but continued to glare at Snow and Moth.

"StarClan is leading our pawsteps to somewhere other than here. And we cannot leave StarClan's set path. To do so would be disastrous." The glares dimmed somewhat at Snow's outburst. Moth glanced to see whether Raven was glaring at her still. But to her disappointment, he wasn't even looking at her. He was staring down angrily at his paws in the snow.

Snow cleared his throat, "We will be leaving tomorrow at sunhigh. I suggest that everyone fill up on fish and get plenty to drink. We might not be able to find food for awhile."

She had already eaten so she returned to the hole-cave-den and settled down next to the far wall to sleep. No sooner had she closed her eyes did they open yet again.

Moth smiled when she realized where she was. The huge trees of SunClan's territory loomed over her. Their bare figures sent patchy shadows from the moon sprawling across the snow-laden ground.

She followed the path she had taken before to SunClan's camp. A calico she-cat was standing guard but she didn't seem to notice Moth as she padded past her into camp. She did however turn her head rather sharply in her direction at one point, as though she had seen something, but had brushed it off as a trick of the light.

Moth crept into the roots of the medicine cat den and prodded Poppypaw. The black she-cat's eyes flew open and stared right at hers.

"Moth!" she shouted as she flew to her paws, "I've been waiting to see you for so long!"

"As have I!" replied the cream warrior, "You must tell me what's happened here!"

Poppypaw hung her head slightly, "Pooltree died from a badger and Hawkstar lost a life from the same animal. But that was nearly a moon ago."

"I…I'm so sorry Poppypaw." She replied, "I had no idea."

She lifted her head again, "I know, I know…It's just that…nevermind."

"No, tell me. Maybe I can help."

Poppypaw laughed, "Well, considering that you're very far outside of the clan, I suppose it won't be a problem. Just so long as you don't tell anybody else about it, alright?"

Moth nodded her head vigorously to emphasize her loyalty to the cat that was making this journey possible.

"As a medicine cat apprentice, I get to know certain things that the rest of the clan doesn't. And one of those things is how many lives the leader has left. When Hawkstar was attacked by that badger, it took a life from him."

She paused so Moth said, "Yes, and?"

"And it means that he only has two lives left. If he dies once more he'll be on his last life. And if he dies after that…well…let's just say that he won't be around anymore."

Moth's eyes furrowed, "Snow, my leader, only has ever had one life to live."

Poppypaw's head snapped up, "Wait, do you mean that IceClan's leaders aren't awarded their nine lives when they become leader?"

Moth shook her head, "No. For as long as I can remember that's never happened."

The medicine cat apprentice looked shocked, "But…but StarClan…"

Moth shook her head, "I still firmly believe in StarClan. Unfortunately, ever since our last medicine cat died, which was long before my mother's mother's mother's mother even, we haven't had much contact with StarClan. That's why my clan so firmly believes my dream was a prophecy from them." she explained.

"You haven't had a medicine cat for that long?" Poppypaw asked quietly.

"No, but we find ways to take care of ourselves without one." Poppypaw seemed to be shocked into silence. Apparently the idea of having no medicine cat at all for so long was extremely appalling. "Poppypaw…?" she said, trying to get the attention of her friend again.

The long-furred she-cat shook her head and returned her attention to Moth, "Yeah…well, how's IceClan been lately?" It was evidently a try at changing the subject.

Moth sighed and recited what had happened since their last meeting. She told her about the clouds, storms, the scratches, the skeleton, and the lake. Finally she said, "Have you thought about what the fire from my dream could be?"

Poppypaw stiffened and replied slowly, "No…I have no idea." Her reply didn't seem very truthful. It was too stiff. She was a horrible liar.

But, she didn't press. She knew that Poppypaw would tell her when the time came. For now, it wasn't necessary.

"But," Poppypaw continued, "I don't like the sound of those scratches and the skeleton. You don't suppose it could those huge black creatures, could it?"

"That's what I've been saying, but no one's listening to me!" Moth complained, "It's driving me crazy!"

Poppypaw's eyes stared up at the stars, "At least you'll be leaving tomorrow morning…and speaking of that," she locked her eyes on Moth's, "You should get some sleep. You'll be doing a lot of travelling in the morning."

Moth sighed, "I suppose. How long do you think it'll be before we speak again?"

Poppypaw looked uneasy, "I'm not sure. I feel that when we meet next it won't be under normal circumstances." Before she could ask why Poppypaw began again, "I don't know why…but…it's just a feeling." She was staring up at the stars again; watching them as if the world's fate was shown in them.

They said their goodbyes then and parted once more. She didn't want to agree with Poppypaw's ominous message, but she couldn't help it. She too felt something in her bones. As if they wouldn't see each other again…at least, not like this, in dreams.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

"Poppypaw, could you heal Badgerstorm's paw please?" Lilystream shouted into the depths of the medicine cat den. Badgerstorm was sitting with his left paw raised in front of him, clearly in a certain amount of pain. Poking out of his pad was a two paw-length long thorn. And not to mention the fact that it was buried deeply in said pad.

Poppypaw groggily dragged herself out of her nest. As much as she loved helping others, she liked getting a good night's rest slightly more. When she finally came out of the den, clutching a small bundle of herbs and cobweb, her mentor was glaring at her fiercely.

"Well, I'm glad to see that someone has finally decided to contribute today!" she then picked up a different herb bundle and disappeared into the elders' den. Poppypaw didn't reply but instead sent a rather dirty glare in her wake.

"Could you turn your paw over please?" she asked. Badgerstorm did so and she placed the thorn in her teeth and whipped her head back. The warrior let out a short yowl of pain, but it was necessary. Plus, it was much easier than dragging it out by going slow.

She quickly applied a tiny bit of coltsfoot and wrapped it up in a bit of cobweb to stop the bleeding. "Go easy on it today, but tomorrow you should be fine. Come to see me before you go on any patrols tomorrow though, alright?" he nodded his head and limped off to the warriors' den.

Poppypaw bent low and stretched. Her dream from several nights ago still replayed in her head. According to her mother, IceClan wasn't arriving for almost four more moons. But that meant that she only had four moons to find out where they were and how to guide them back. And so far she hadn't even had time to so much as think about that.

Between elders dying, chances of whitecough, various sicknesses, and cats getting injured, she had absolutely no time at all.

She padded over to the fresh-kill hole and grabbed a quick mouse. While she was eating she saw all three of her sisters walk out into the snowy woods. Morningpaw left to go hunting, Dawnpaw, a patrol, and Mintpaw left to train. She, herself, was left to take care of whatever ailed the next cat that walked through her den entrance.

When she returned to the den Lilystream was in a worse mood that she was before she left. She mumbled something along the lines of 'stubborn', 'she-cat', 'insane'. Poppypaw had enough sense to realize that she was probably talking about Brightstripe. Ever since Pooltree died she seemed to have gotten extremely annoyed by everybody and refused to take her herbs without copious amounts of coaxing.

Instead of getting the full wrath of her mentor she grabbed another bundle of herbs and padded quickly to the nursery. Tansykit was the only kit in the nursery, which somehow felt odd. Normally the SunClan nursery was full of kits. But now even Rosebloom wasn't expecting kits. Maybe it was just the sudden influx of apprentices.

Tansykit was fully recovered from her sickness, but she was still getting herbs every now and then to keep up her health, as a precaution. Rosebloom stalked past her as she entered the nursery. She looked thoroughly angered. She stood there for a moment, wondering what was wrong before she found out the reason.

Tansykit was pretty much bouncing off the walls. She was making laps around the edge of the den. Her mother, Birchface, was nowhere to be seen. Poppypaw sighed and set down the herbs. When the kit saw her she ran up to her.

Before she knew it she was being climbed upon like a tree.

"What the—Hey! Get off! Tansykit—HEY!" The kit didn't seem to hear her. She even rolled, a move that she had seen other apprentices practicing, to get the energetic kit off of her, but it didn't work.

"Seriously Tansykit! What is going on! Oh! Birchface!" her mother padded into the den looking worried.

"Oh StarClan!" she grabbed her kit and held the squirming bundle tight in her jaws. Rosebloom followed after. She must've left to go get Birchface when she walked past her earlier.

"See, I told you she was acting crazy." Rosebloom said.

Poppypaw took a deep breath, "Rosebloom, take Tansykit." The queens carefully passed the kit to the other. Next she said, "Alright. Birchface, explain."

The frazzled queen sat on her haunches, "You weren't here this morning so I decided that I'd give Tansykit her herbs instead. I grabbed some catmint and I fed it to her with her morning meal."

"How much did you give her?!" she asked, glancing at the squirming bundle of fur.

Birchface looked uncertain, "Three leaves…I think?"

Poppypaw sighed and shook her head, "For her size and considering she's a kit, she's only supposed to get one-half…maybe one. And then there's the fact that she isn't supposed to have catmint anymore. If you'd been paying attention you would've noticed that I've been giving her a completely different set of herbs. Marigold and Tansy."

Birchface looked down at her paws guiltily, "I'm sorry…What do we do now?"

"Well, it's not going to hurt her at all, so you got lucky. You'll just have to wait out the effects. She should be fine by nightfall."

She stalked out of the den. Now it was her turn to be annoyed. Since when did queens think that they could be medicine cats? She heard pawsteps behind her.

"Poppypaw…" a soft voice said. It was Rosebloom, "You don't have to be so angry. It was an honest mistake."

She rolled her eyes, "And if it had been any other herb. Let's say…feverfew? A couple leaves of that in an un-sick cat could kill them. Especially a kit!"

Rosebloom sighed, "Calm down, Poppypaw. We'll be thankful that it wasn't and—"

Her sentence was cut off by Dawnpaw yowling as she sprinted through the camp's entrance, "OceanClan…attack…stream!" she said through heavy pants. She must've ran all the way from the stream to camp.

Hawkstar immediately began ordering cats to come with him, "Redfoot, Ivyfrost, Deerswift, Brindlenose, Feathertail, Fireclaw, Leopardspots! With me! Bring your apprentices!"

The warriors and the apprentices, Sparrowpaw, Nightpaw, Morningpaw, and Mintpaw, all ran from various corners of the camp after their leader, who was already disappearing through the barrier. Lilystream, like a ghost, had crept up behind her and whispered in her ear, "Come on, we need to gather herbs. There will be injuries. OceanClan is always tough."

"Do they attack often?" Poppypaw asked, raking her mind for any mention of an OceanClan attack.

"There hasn't been one since one of their warriors killed Berrystar. But before that, there were many."

"Killed? Berrystar?" she asked shocked.

Lilystream paused for a moment, "Yes…"

"That was when Hawkstar became leader, right?"

Her mentor paused from rummaging around the herb piles. She stared at the root-walls, far away in another time, and replied rather quietly, "Yes, it was."

She didn't want to bring up any painful memories so she changed the subject, "We'd better be going then, right?"

Lilystream's head snapped up, "Yes, of course. Here," she handed her apprentice a pile of herbs wrapped in a leaf, "let's go."

They flew out of the den, as if they were escaping the conversation before, and ran out into the forest. The snow was thick in places, but the path made by the warriors earlier made it quite easy to reach where the battle was taking place. It didn't take long before she heard the tell-tale sounds of a fight. Loud screeches and hisses filled the air. This was the first real battlefield she would be visiting, so she was nervous.

The first thing she noticed was the stinging stench of blood. She wrinkled her nose but continued on. Lilystream stopped and began to circle around. For a moment she wondered what she was doing. She realized it when they suddenly poked out from behind a clump of bushes. She had found a hiding spot.

"What do we do now?" Poppypaw whispered.

Lilystream sighed, "We wait until the battle is over."

Poppypaw looked up at her mentor, slightly bewildered, "But don't they need help?" she asked, noticing the cats lunging at each other, tearing each other apart.

Her mentor snorted, "And what help would you and I be? You don't even know any fight moves."

"So teach me some!"

Lilystream winced slightly as she watched a bulky OceanClan cat land on Blackear, "I'm not much of a teacher."

Poppypaw gazed out at the battle dejectedly. She made up in her mind that she was going to ask her sisters later to help her learn a couple of fighting moves. As she gazed out she spotted Morningpaw weaving in-between several older OceanClan warriors. She was so quick and lithe, having inherited Silverswirl's traits, that she easily dodged their blows.

Dawnpaw was having troubles though. Her grey-brown pelt was stained red with blood. Whether it was hers or another's, Poppypaw didn't know exactly. But she was easily being thrown aside by larger warriors. Her paws were itching to carry her out and help out her sibling. Luckily, Ivyfrost launched herself at the cat who was but toying with her.

She held in a silent, "_Yes!_" and instead looked for her last sister, Mintpaw. It was then when her heart skipped. She spotted her sister's matted white coat lying in a shallow pool of blood opposite the clearing. Lilystream must've seen her at the same moment she did. Her mentor shoved her back inside the bushes, concealing her view of the battle.

"Mintpaw!" she screamed quietly.

"Shh! Poppypaw, if we're heard, we could become targets!"

She sobbed, "She's my sister!"

Lilystream's shoulders drooped, "Just a moment longer, then the battle will be over. I promise. Then we can help her." Her tail rested on her shoulders. It was this tiny detail that kept her from running out into the midst of the battle.

She could hear someone, she thought Leopardspots, screeching some profanity at an OceanClan cat. Whoever it was yelled back at her with equal venom. Bits of fur floated past her, torn from some pelt in anger. She heard Morningpaw scream Mintpaw's name. She must've just noticed her sister. She could tell that she was quickly distracted though as she began to hiss at a cat.

Poppypaw bit her tongue to prevent her from making any noise. Just as Lilystream had said, it was soon over. The sounds faded. She picked up the herbs and flew out from behind the bushes. She didn't stop running until she reached the unmoving form of her sister.

"Mintpaw…?" she whispered. Though her other sisters were injured, they too had joined her at Mintpaw's side. Her white coat was soaked in blood. A deep gash cut through her neck, just below her jaw. She knew it was futile. The incision was too deep. The pool of blood she was standing in was too much. It was so much that even the cut had stopped bleeding. There was no more blood to seep out. There was nothing she could do.

"Please…please…Mintpaw…come back…" she whispered quietly into the drooped ear. Dawnpaw behind her let out a choked sob while Morningpaw yowled in pain. Not from a physical injury, but an emotional one.

Poppypaw glanced over her shoulder. Hawkstar, who had undoubtedly lost another life, was leaning against Blackear, looking at the apprentice's forlornly. Feathertail was staring at the kits she had nearly called her own in horror. Sparrowpaw and Nightpaw both sat in shocked silence. This was the first death in battle they had seen. Lilystream was looking at her apprentice with a pained expression. Sadness mixed with grief mixed with pain.

Poppypaw gave up and buried her head in the blood-soaked fur. Already the heat was beginning to fade. Death's cold claws were clutching her sister's body. She lifted her head slightly and saw it then. Something no one else had seen. A small tuft, only three or four strands really, of fur. They were protruding out from her sister's mouth, torn from the owner's body.

Several things ran through her head then all at once. The first; if they had been a different cat, other than the one who she had been fighting that killed her, she would've spit out the fur as soon as possible. Second; that must mean that the fur had to have come from the killer. Third; that she should grab the hairs. So she did. Swiftly and imperceptibly she grabbed the hairs.

She backed away then and allowed Redfoot and Deerswift to bear her sister's corpse away to camp. Lilystream didn't stop her from following them. The whispers spread like wildfire when they squeezed through the entrance. Poppypaw continued on into the medicine cat den ahead of the warriors and hid the hairs in her nest.

The remainder of the day passed much too quickly. Looking back on it she remembered dressing Mintpaw's body with lavender and mint. She remembered sitting vigil beside her as dark clouds covered up the sky overhead. A light snow began to fall, illuminating the night with its white flakes.

The next thing she knew she was in her nest…staring down at the hairs. Three of them were white while one was black. Most of the cats in OceanClan were a silver or blue color. And only a select few of them were white and black. Stormegg, Fernripple, and Waveshine. It had to be one of those three. One of them had killed her sister.

"Poppypaw?" Lilystream whispered behind her. "Poppypaw, what are you looking at?"

She flicked some moss over the hairs before turning back around, "Nothing. How's Hawkstar?"

Lilystream sighed, "It was a pretty bad cut, but he should heal. I've put him in strict conditions though. He's not to leave his den unless there's an emergency. I'm changing his bandages and herbs three times a day too."

"This is his last life, isn't it?" she asked.

She nodded her head, "We can't afford to lose him. Not now."

Poppypaw nodded her head, "But if the worst were to happen, would Blackear be able to lead the clan?"

Lilystream froze at the question, "I…I'm not sure really. I don't think he ever expected to lead."

"Does he know that this is Hawkstar's last life? Does he know that he has to be ready when the time comes?"

Lilystream looked at her apprentice with a different light. She was seeing a different side of her. Something had changed in Poppypaw. Her light-hearted side, the one that lived in the present, had disappeared. In its place was a medicine cat. One who looked into the future for answers.

She nodded her head, "I was about to go talk to him. I've been his friend for awhile so I think I'd better do it." She finished as Poppypaw got to her paws. She had been ready to go find the deputy herself.

"Why don't you rest, Poppypaw. You've had a long day." She said as she walked out of the den. But she had already rested enough. Her mind had been disconnected and she needed to do something to wake it up again.

She popped her head out of the den and saw Lilystream and Blackear discreetly leaving camp. Just before they disappeared behind the barrier she saw Lilystream look over her shoulder, as if to make sure no one followed her. This seemed odd to her. Out of place.

A bit of her old self was beginning to come back. The curiosity. She followed her mentor out of the camp by her distinct herb filled scent. She followed their trail until she reached the edge of SunClan's territory.

Slightly uneasy, she continued on. They trail continued north until it finally stopped just outside a lone clump of trees. It was here that she finally heard their voices.

"Blackear! I told you once and I'll tell you a thousand more times, we're over!" Lilystream said.

She heard Blackear snort, "That's what you said before but you still came back."

Lilystream sighed, "I was younger then and much more reckless."

"Reckless! You were in love!" a shudder ran through Poppypaw as she realized exactly what she was listening to.

"Love? Love?! You only wanted me at first so that you could feel adventurous like Hawkstar. It was all some adrenaline-fueled jealousy towards your friend!"

"That's not true and you know it!" Blackear retorted hotly.

"Whatever it was it doesn't change my answer. We can't be together anymore. In fact, we never should've began anything." Her mentor said, her voice quieting near the end.

Somebody shifted, "Lilystream, please. You know I love you."

"I know…I know…But it goes against the code."

Blackear hissed slightly, "The code seems to be the least on anybody's mind lately."

"The code is what we live by, especially medicine cats. And as one I should uphold it." Lilystream snapped back.

"Silverswirl didn't uphold it and now one of her kits is your apprentice! If StarClan was angry that she mated with a loner they sure aren't showing it."

"StarClan doesn't take out their anger on kits that didn't have anything to do with it." She said.

Blackear bit back quickly, "And what about you? You and your sister were both loners before you came here. Your sister is the mate of our leader. You're a medicine cat."

She could almost feel Lilystream's glare in her words, "Hawkstar's on his last life. If he dies, you're going to be SunClan's leader. As one you'd have to be an example of the code."

Blackear's voice was happy, "Then we could change the rules. We could allow for a leader and medicine cat to mate."

Lilystream gasped, "Are you crazy! If that's what you think you really shouldn't be allowed to be a leader."

Blackear hissed, "I see that we don't hold the same views."

"Of course we don't. I serve the clan and the code. You're serving your own fancies."

"I'm not going to lead based on what I want. I'll lead on what is right." He defended himself.

"What's right?" Lilystream growled, "Changing the code isn't the right thing to do."

"So denying our love is?" he asked.

"Dear StarClan!" she shouted out, fed up. "Join us in the real world when you want. But for now, we're over and I'm going back to camp."

The two entered her sight. Poppypaw scrambled underneath a thorny bush, scraping herself while Blackear darted in front of her mentor, cutting Lilystream off, "You're not going anywhere."

Lilystream stood for a moment in shock at this change, "You're definitely not the cat I knew when I was young." She shoved past him and left the little area of trees. Blackear stood in the snow defeated. Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, he left.

Poppypaw sighed in relief and slowly untangled herself from bush. Unfortunately, the thorns and small twigs and become stuck in her long fur. By the time she was able to set off for camp again she was sure that Lilystream would be wondering where she was.

The sky was darkening again when she reached the outside of camp. Ripplepaw was sitting at the entrance to camp. This surprised Poppypaw as apprentices weren't allowed to guard the camp by themselves.

She padded up to Morningpaw, who was sharing a mouse with Nightpaw, "What's Ripplepaw doing?" she asked.

Nightpaw looked at her as if it was one of the weirder questions he had ever been asked, "Its Ripplefur now. He was made a warrior at sunhigh."

"Oh." She said. She had been busy following her mentor at the time he was made a warrior that she had completely missed it.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

AN: I thought I should explain quickly how I see the apprenticeships going in SunClan. I feel that if a cat isn't made a warrior as recognition for something, (sort of like Firestar) then they would normally go through six moons of training. So they would be a kit six moons, then an apprentice six moons, then a warrior indefinitely.

***On a different note. Please make sure that you've read the first book (SunClan's Fate Book One: The Shadow) Otherwise, a bulk of this chapter will not make sense. I assure you ;) If you have read the first book, thank you, and I hope you really enjoy this chapter, because it's now one of my favorites!

Last note, I promise! If you haven't noticed, I've been giving SunClan 2 chapters, then IceClan 2 chapters, then repeating. SunClan gets 3 chapters this time, sorry, Moth will have to wait.

Thanks so much for reading!

~Nicki Anne

Chapter Fourteen

Poppypaw woke up early the next day. The sun wouldn't be up for awhile yet since it was still leafbare. She stretched and wandered out into the clearing. Hawkstar was already up and sitting at the entrance to camp. She laughed to herself and shook her head. If Lilystream caught him doing something other than resting, she would go at him like a hawk to a mouse.

By the time that she finished a vole the rest of the camp was waking. She quickly dosed out herbs to Brightstripe and Tansykit. The elder was still as sullen and hostile as ever and the kit was thankfully sleepy as a kit should be.

Morningpaw and Dawnpaw were sitting together eating a thin robin. One that must've gotten stranded during the migrations. She padded up to them and sat down in the snow.

"Have you heard what they've started calling last leafbare?" she asked them. 'They' referred to the elders and queens. Both of those groups seemed very keen to gossip.

Both of them shook their heads through their mouthfuls of food.

She smiled slightly at how comical it looked. Then she remembered that someone was missing from their normal quad-set. She went on, trying not to remember the blood.

"They're calling it 'The Shadow'."

Morningpaw swallowed her bite, "Why's that?"

"Not because there was literally a shadow," Dawnpaw explained, "But because they were such dark times. It makes sense to me."

"Even if we can't remember it. We weren't even alive for most of it anyhow." Poppypaw said.

"Oh..." her silvery sister said slowly, "Well, to get onto a lighter topic, did you hear the news?"

"What news?" Poppypaw asked.

Dawnpaw looked a bit uncomfortable. She had never liked bragging about herself, "It's not big news or anything, but we're at our halfway mark for assessments. That means we only have about three or so moons until we're sure to be warriors."

Poppypaw smiled, "That's great! I'm really proud of you two!" she masked her slight disappointment. For her, it could be much more than three moons. In fact, it could be seasons. Once Lilystream felt that she knew all she could teach her, then she would be given a full medicine cat name. But even then, she wasn't a full medicine cat. That would happen when Lilystream either retired or…well…she didn't want to think of that.

"Hey!" it was Morningpaw. She must've noticed the distant look in Poppypaw's eyes. "Don't go and get the 'all-seeing-all-knowing' medicine cat look on us." Dawnpaw laughed and Poppypaw had to stifle her chuckle.

"You know," Dawnpaw said as she got up and stretched, "We have the afternoon off since the assessment isn't until night falls. We were just wondering if you'd like to learn some moves."

Poppypaw looked at her sisters curiously, "What makes you think I want to learn any?" she asked lightheartedly.

"We heard Lilystream mentioning something to Hawkstar about having a warrior teach you some defensive moves. I think she's just worried about you since Mintpaw..." her voice trailed off and she proceeded to stare down at pile of snow as if it were the most interesting thing in camp."

"Yah, I'd love to," Poppypaw said, breaking the silence, "You two wouldn't mind showing me some attack maneuvers too, would you?"

Dawnpaw's eyes lit up, "We'd love to. I know I didn't do great in the battle, but I really am good at attack moves."

Morningpaw nodded her head, "She really is! Badgerstorm's always bragging about how great his apprentice is!" she exclaimed, giving Dawnpaw a playful shove. As they got to their paws and headed out of camp Dawnpaw replied.

"Whatever, I'll bet Badgerstorm hardly notices me. He only ever addresses me when Brookwing isn't around."

Poppypaw looked at Dawnpaw, "What do you mean."

Dawnpaw looked at her with surprise, "You mean you haven't noticed?" when she saw her sister's blank stare she continued on, "Well, most everybody knows that Badgerstorm's crazy for Brookwing. Ever since she showed up in our territory he's been drawn to her."

Everybody seemed drawn to Brookwing. There was something unnatural about her. She could never remember anything from her past. Then there was the uncanny knack for herbs and dream interpretation. Not to mention the fact that Feathertail, Rockclaw, Leopardspots, and now Badgerstorm were all basically worshipping the ground she walked on. And yet she remained as humble as ever. She was always so nice that it sometimes left Poppypaw searching for some sort of fault.

"Anyways," Dawnpaw said, now addressing Morningpaw, "Nightpaw's always telling anybody's who's near about how fast you are." Poppypaw could almost feel the embarrassment seeping out of Morningpaw's pelt. Since they were out of camp she could tell that her sister was feeling bolder as she continued, "Everybody knows that you two fancy each other."

"We're just friends!" Morningpaw blurted out a little too fast. "He happens to be a tom that I'm friendly to and I happen to be a she-cat that he's friendly to. That's all there is to it."

Poppypaw laughed, "I'm _so_ sure!" She ducked just in time as Morningpaw's paw flew above her head where her ear just was.

"Good move Poppypaw! You have pretty quick reactions."

"Thanks!" She said, turning towards her tabby sister. Suddenly, she was pinned in the snow on her back by Morningpaw.

"Sadly, you didn't pay attention to all of the cats near you." Morningpaw moved off of her and allowed Poppypaw to shake the snow out of her long, black pelt.

"Alright, let's try again then." Poppypaw replied.

This time, Morningpaw attacked from above while Dawnpaw tried to roll under Poppypaw. She leapt forward while flattening her body so none of her sisters were able to lay a paw on her. Instead, when she turned around, they were tangled together while she was unharmed.

They didn't pause in their attacks this time. Morningpaw flew up the nearest tree while Dawnpaw relentlessly made harmless swipes at Poppypaw. She knew right away that Dawnpaw was trying to distract her from the fact that her other sister was going to leap on her from a branch above. So, in between swipes, she cast quick glances upwards into the bare tree branches. She only just found Morningpaw when she launched herself like a bird of prey from the tree. Poppypaw rolled to the side, knocking over Dawnpaw and letting Morningpaw go diving right into a large snow bank.

Quickly, she leapt to her paws and awaited the next attack. Immediately she saw Dawnpaw rearing up onto her hind legs, paws outstretched. Thinking quickly she assessed the situation. With all of her weight on her two hind legs, she would be unbalanced if those two sources were eliminated. She dove/slid under her sister and sent her toppling into the snow.

Morningpaw was right behind Dawnpaw and leapt onto Poppypaw. Poppypaw nipped her sister's leg. Morningpaw instinctively flinched back slightly. This small amount of time was enough for Poppypaw to gain the advantage and push against her lithe body with all her strength. She practically flew off of Morningpaw and slid a bit on the icy forest floor.

All three of them were breathing hard by the end of their first bout. Dawnpaw was staring at Poppypaw incredulously while Morningpaw looked baffled.

"Where did you learn all of that?" Morningpaw asked.

Poppypaw thought back. She had garnered the information from constantly watching apprentices training whenever Lilystream and she had passed the training area. Also she had watched the previous battle. But some of it, and the only explanation she had was that it was instinctual, came from nowhere. Just her head. She explained this to her sisters.

Dawnpaw laughed, "If you were a warrior's apprentice, you'd probably already be a warrior!"

Now it was Poppypaw's turn to laugh, "No thank you! I'd much rather be a medicine cat. It's better to heal than to inflict in my opinion."

"Well," Morningpaw said, "I don't think we have to worry much about you if you get caught up in a fight. You can hold your own." Poppypaw smiled. She wasn't used to getting a lot of compliments. Most of the time it was advice or critiques on her healing style.

"Yes, that was very good." It wasn't any of her sister's voice that spoke up. All three of them snapped their heads backwards towards the source.

Out of the trees stepped a tall, thin, lean tom cat. He had pale green eyes and a brown-grey tabby body. Numerous scars testified to a hard life. The most terrifying part of him though, was that he looked just like Dawnpaw.

Images quickly flashed before her eyes. Memories from the unfamiliar tom. Most likely sent from StarClan for some reason or another. It was him…and her mother…running…There were other SunClan cats there too. Behind them were six or so unfamiliar cats. Then the SunClan cats left, leaving only him. They fought hard. His fur was torn out in places. But he managed to kill one of them. Then they had captured him.

Leading the group was the female that was captured when the rogues invaded SunClan when she was a kit. Her name was… Ruisseau! Yes, Ruisseau. The group was on the edge of the twoleg place when she stopped. She said something to the tom. Suddenly, the memories skipped. He was wandering alone through the twoleg place. And now, he was here, in SunClan's forest.

And then she was back to herself.

Morningpaw and Dawnpaw both had their claws drawn out with menacing snarls on their visages.

"Stop!" Poppypaw shouted.

Both her sisters looked at her oddly. "Poppypaw, back away! He's an invader and deserves to have his pelt clawed off!" Dawnpaw said with venom.

"NO!" she said louder, "He doesn't. He's a part of SunClan already."

"What are you talking about?" Morningpaw asked quietly.

Poppypaw turned towards the tom, "What is your name?" she asked quietly.

She already knew it, but her sisters didn't. They didn't know that this cat had been accepted into SunClan before they were born. They didn't know that Silverswirl had loved him. They didn't know that everybody thought him to be dead. This was their father. This was…

"Jacques."


	16. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Morningpaw and Dawnpaw looked at Jacques differently. They looked at him, not as an intruder, but as a father. Someone they never had. Someone Molenose had tried to be.

"How….how are you alive?" Dawnpaw asked.

He laughed slightly, "I ask myself that every day. But the full story can be saved for Hawkstar's ears. He is still your leader, right?"

They nodded their heads.

"Good. If you don't mind, what are your names?" For a moment, Poppypaw felt that he should've known. Then she realized that he never knew them. He wouldn't know who they were. Maybe he could guess with Dawnpaw since they looked so alike. And Morningpaw too, since she resembled Silverswirl so much. But he wouldn't guess herself. He wouldn't have guessed Mintpaw either. And to think, he was only days off from getting to meet her.

Poppypaw spoke, "My name is Poppypaw," she pointed to Dawnpaw, "This is my sister, Dawnpaw," she moved her tail to her other sister, "And my other sister, Morningpaw."

He nodded his head, "Right, thank you. Now we must talk to Hawkstar immediately. I don't want any cat in SunClan to think that I'm intruding for a bad reason."

Morningpaw opened her mouth but Poppypaw shook her head. Now wasn't the time to tell him who they were.

Poppypaw walked next to Jacques while Dawnpaw and Morningpaw followed behind a step. As she led him back to camp he looked down at her and said, "Do you know Silverswirl."

Not wanting to say the wrong thing she only nodded her head. He continued on, "Won't she be excited! We haven't seen each other for almost four seasons!" He was silent for a moment before saying cautiously, "Were her kits alright?" She nodded her head again. A wide smile split his face. He didn't say anything, but Poppypaw knew that he must have a million thoughts running through his head.

It was chilly outside, so most of the cats that were in camp were in their dens. That's why they were able to get all the way to Hawkstar's den without any whispers or shouts being thrown out.

Luckily for them, Hawkstar was in camp. He turned around to see who had walked in. For a moment, he froze. Then, "No…It can't be…Jacques?" He asked in barely a whisper.

Jacques smiled, "Yes, it's me."

"You're supposed to be dead." He eyed the scars on Jacques. She could tell that twelve moons ago they had been non-existent.

Hawkstar turned to the three apprentices, "Did you know anything about this?" They all shook their heads.

"Then how is this possible?" he asked, turning back to Jacques.

Jacques sighed, "Do you want to know the full story or the short version?"

"The full story." He said quickly. "Wait, I think the whole clan should hear this. Most of them knew you some way or another."

Hawkstar padded outside and leapt onto the Highstump. He called the clan together. As they assembled, Poppypaw saw looks of surprise and shock on a lot of the warrior's faces. None of the apprentices, save her and her sisters, knew who he was.

"Now you can begin." Hawkstar said, bowing his head to the nervous Jacques.

He took a deep breath before he began, "The last time I saw you it was about four seasons ago. I watched as the catmint patrol retreated to the forest. It wasn't long before I was fighting, tooth and claw, to stall them. The tore me up pretty badly. But I managed to kill one of their own. After that, a she-cat—"

"Ruisseau." Poppypaw provided. Hawkstar looked at the medicine cat apprentice curiously before telling Jacques to continue.

"Yes, well, Ruisseau told the other rogues to stop their assault. They formed a tight group around me and began to take me back to Offenseur. I didn't think I was going to live." He paused for a moment, lost in his memory. He shook his head and continued on, "Then she stopped outside of Cote Mer…er, the twoleg place. She told me to run. To get to the far north side of the twoleg place. Off never went there. She said that she would tell Off that they killed me. None of those cats in the patrol wanted to fight for that kit-killer anyway."

"So, I ran. But the thing about the north side is, is that there's still dangers there. Mostly in the form of dogs and other creatures. For so many moons I tried to find a way to get back. But Off's gang kept tight patrols. Then, in the spring…newleaf…I heard that Off was dead. Some other cats told me that the forest cats killed him."

"I was elated. But some new cat took over his post in a way. He's much kinder and benevolent though. But I ended up angering the wrong cats over a piece of stupid territory. Unfortunately for me, that cat ended up being a friend of this new leader. It took me awhile, but I finally appeased him. Then it was just a question of getting here, which wasn't that hard. The only problem was that I had to re-find your camp again. The last time I sort of fell into it. But I found these apprentices, so I guess my luck's turned." He finished happily.

"I guess it's our turn to fill you in then." Hawkstar said.

Molenose spoke up, "We thought you were dead. All of us did."

"Why?" from his voice Poppypaw knew that he must've, at one time, felt a sense of betrayal that no one came to look for him at all.

Molenose looked at the ground for a moment, "Thrushtail, Silverswirl, and I went back to the site where you were attacked. There were bones and bits of your fur there. It made sense, but I get it now."

A troubled look crossed Jacques's face, "Where is Silverswirl? Is she on a patrol?"

The camp was silent. Molenose spoke again, "There was a flood. She died saving her kits…your kits…there was nothing we could do…"

Shock filled Jacques's features, "Dead? No…she can't be…my love…" His head snapped up, "You said she died saving our kits? Did they live?"

Poppypaw spoke now, "Yes. One of them, Mintpaw, died several days ago in a border skirmish. I tried to help her, but I was too late. I couldn't save my sister."

He looked from Poppypaw to her two sisters and back, "Then you…and Dawnpaw…and Morningpaw…you are my kits?" she nodded her head.

"You are all so beautiful…Morningpaw, you look just like your mother. And Dawnpaw, you look like me. And Poppypaw, you look like my mother." So that's where she got her long, black coat from.

"Silverswirl died saving you three…four then…and that is the noblest death there is. To die in the place of someone you love." Jacques said stoically. She could tell that beneath his strong demeanor, he was deeply troubled by her mother's death.

Hawkstar leapt down from his perch and rested his tail on Jacques's shoulder, "Even though we thought you were dead, we made you a warrior of SunClan. If you don't mind, I would like to give you a warrior name. You more than deserve it."

He gave a hollow chuckle, "I would like nothing more than to shed this name and take on another."

Hawkstar smiled and looked up to the sky, which had since fallen dark. Though the purple-blue, small stars began to appear. "Spirits of StarClan, you know every cat by name. I ask you now to take away the name from the cat you see before you, for it no longer stands for what he is. By my authority as Clan leader, and with the approval of our warrior ancestors, I give this cat a new name. From this moment on he will be known as Rainheart. For just as the rain returns, so has he."

With all her might, Poppypaw shouted three times along with the rest of the clan, "Rainheart! Rainheart! Rainheart!"

Rainheart looked at his daughter with a new light. He looked at her with proud, beaming eyes. She was last in line to greet him by his new name. And when she finally did get to congratulate him formally, he rubbed his head against hers lovingly.

"So, you're a medicine cat apprentice?" he asked her. She nodded sheepishly, "Your mother would've been proud. I know she always approved of what her brother did. Speaking of, did Thrushtail die too?"

"Yes, in the attack Off orchestrated against us. A lot of cats died that day, including Off himself."

"I see I still will have a lot of catching up to do."

Poppypaw laughed, "It's a good thing that they like you. They've had a lot of time to know that what you've done for our clan is a debt that can never be repaid enough. You saved us. At least, that's what I've been told."

Before Poppypaw could say anything, her sisters padded up to her, "Well, wish us luck! We're off to our assessment!" Morningpaw chirped.

Poppypaw smiled, "I hope you two do really well! Only three more moons until you'll no doubt be warriors!" As they walked off she saw the confused expression on Rainheart's face, "I'll explain it to you later." She whispered to him, "For now, I need to get some sleep."

They said their goodbyes and she returned to the medicine cat den. Lilystream was sorting through piles of herbs once more. She did this non-stop to assure that that none of them were becoming frozen or too decayed.

Lilystream stopped her work and looked at her apprentice, "Congratulations Poppypaw."

She looked at her mentor oddly, "What do you mean?"

Lilystream smiled, "You're lucky to have Jacq—Rainheart back. Your mother loved him very much. He's as good as they come."

Poppypaw laughed, "I'm sure. But thank you nonetheless." She sat down in her nest slowly. She was about to move a small lump in her nest when she remembered what was underneath it. The excitement of the day and made her completely forget about the hairs. The hair of the killer.

Those three names began to run through her head once more… Stormegg, Fernripple, and Waveshine. She suddenly realized that Fernripple hadn't even been at the battle. That left Stormegg and Waveshine. She tried her hardest to remember if one of them hadn't been there, but she couldn't remember. She promised herself that she would try to talk to some OceanClan apprentices at the next gathering and see if they had any information. Most likely they wouldn't, and even if someone did know something, they weren't going to tell the sister of the cat killed.

Poppypaw almost hoped for another battle with OceanClan. She wanted desperately to know who had killed her sister so brutally. And maybe she could convince her sisters and her father that payback was necessary.

The next night was the half-moon, which meant that Lilystream and she had to travel to the mooncave. They left before sun high so they had plenty of time to get to their destination.

Halfway there they met up with Mintpelt. As usual, she and Lilystream padded ahead and discussed various cases that popped up in the clan. They were in the middle of discussing fractured bones when Mintpelt said, "In fact, Waveshine broke her back leg almost about a half-moon ago, just after the last Gathering. She's been nest ridden ever since. I wouldn't let her out of camp unless there was, StarClan forbid it, a fire."

It took a moment for the words to sink in. Waveshine…Waveshine was in camp at the time of the battle. After a few more minutes of eavesdropping she picked up that Fernripple had had two kits almost a moon ago. That meant that it had to have been Stormegg. Stormegg had murdered her sister. Mintpaw was dead because of him.

Poppypaw shook her head. She couldn't have these thoughts running through her head on the night of the half-moon. It would be an insult to the name of medicine cats.

Since they left so early, they still had some time left before the moonlight entered the hole in the roof of the cave. Whisperpaw was the only other medicine cat apprentice, so she went to talk to him.

"How has MarshClan been?" she asked nonchalantly.

He shrugged, "More or less okay. It's easier to get around since the water turns to ice in the swamps."

"Really, that's neat. We have a new warrior in SunClan. He's my father."

He looked at her with surprise, "Really? Wasn't your father a loner?"

Now it was Poppypaw's turn to look at him with surprise, "How do you know that?"

Whisperpaw looked down at the ground, slightly embarrassed, "Word spreads quickly between clans. Especially something like that."

"Makes sense. But he almost died, and we thought he did, to save SunClan. So that sends him among the bravest warriors I know."

Whisperpaw smiled, "That's what I thought. Did he keep his old name?"

She shook her head, "No, his name is Rainheart now. He's learning the ways of the code pretty quick." Whisperpaw frowned at her words. "What's wrong?"

"I just feel like some of the code is being taken for granted lately. I feel some of it could change."

Poppypaw nodded her head, "Sometimes, it seems tough, but we have to preserver through."

"It's not that exactly, it's just that—" his words were cut off as the light filled the cave once more.

No matter how many times she saw it, she was always awe-struck by how beautiful it was. The beams of different colored light dazzled her. She huge colored stones radiated with moonlight. The small pool seemed to glow thousands of different colors.

She quickly mouthed 'sorry' to Whisperpaw before bending down and lapping some of the ice-cold water of the cavern. As soon as she layed down she was enveloped by sleep's claws.

She was standing in thick snow. A long, wide, deep lake lay before her. Then, she was running. Alongside her were a dozen other cats. Suddenly she realized that she was with IceClan. They were blindly running next to the lake, trying to get away from something. Poppypaw glanced behind her and her heart leaped into her throat. The monsters…the huge black cats…were chasing them. Their piercing yellow eyes seemed to paralyze her, even though she kept running. One of them opened their mouth to reveal huge white teeth. It let out a blood-curling snarl that set every one of her hairs on end.

Moth was running a bit ahead of the clan. Next to her was a pure white cat she assumed was Snow, the leader of IceClan. Her dream…vision…whatever it was, skipped ahead. The IceClan cats were sitting huddled together, in a cave of some sort. Small amounts of light seeped in through cracks covered with light layers of snow.

A large brown tom spoke up, "I really don't think you know where you're going, Moth."

"Owl, I really don't need your criticism right now." Moth snapped back.

Another tom, an all black one, said, "Don't fight, it'll only make things worse. Let's just get out of these caves."

"You're right Raven. Snow?" she asked the leader, who was standing at a split in the tunnel, "Which way should we go?"

Snow sniffed the air then pointed to a tunnel leading off of the cave. There were several, but he pointed to the left-most one, "The air smells freshest in that one."

"If only those stupid monsters hadn't chased us in here in the first place." One she-cat grumped.

"Well, River, they did. There's nothing we can do to change that." A different cat said.

"Hey, don't yell at her!" A small brown tabby tom said. He was standing close to River, so she guessed that this was her kit, Sparrow. It looked as though other cat was about to reply when everything went dark.

Poppypaw's eyes flew open suddenly. She wasn't sure for a moment how she woke up when she saw Lilystream standing over her, "Sorry, but we have to go now. It's almost dawn."

Poppypaw sighed and shook her pelt. If only she had had more time in her dream. Then she would know if IceClan was even still alive.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**AN: Sorry, this one is short. I kind of lost interest in this chapter. After this, it's back to SunClan where some interesting things will soon be taking place. Just assume that IceClan is very hungry and taking their sweet time getting through the huge jagged-peak range. Thanks for your consideration.**

Chapter Sixteen

Light flooded Moth's eyes. Fresh air whooshed into her lungs. Ahead of her, Snow was standing still, drinking in the scents of fresh air and snow. Finally they were out of the system of caves. Those monstrous cats had chased them in there almost a quarter moon before. Or at least, that's what she thought. It was hard to tell time when you couldn't see the sun, moon, or stars at all.

Raven had also beaten her out of the tunnels. His long black pelt whipped around his body like a leaf. His dark black pelt contrasted greatly with the pure white surroundings. What was she supposed to say to him? She still had to lead the clan. But she felt inexplicably drawn to him. That had to mean something. Then there was the whole dream connection with Poppypaw and StarClan. She had too much on her mind at the moment to be worrying about such a simple thing as love.

And yet, even as she looked at him, she could feel it. That feeling in the back of her head, tugging at her…wanting her to be by him. It was stronger that she had felt before. It wasn't as simple as she believed. She pushed it back and suppressed it to the depths of her mind. She could not be distracted. Distraction led to anger among clanmates.

The path they were on now led straight and true. Every now and then it led to a short steep climb, but other than that, it was pretty even. By the end of the day they had covered quite a bit of ground. They found a small shelter of boulders to huddle against for the night. She volunteered for the first watch.

She deftly leapt to the top of the boulders and sat watch. As the light dimmed she watched as her clanmates drifted off to sleep. Her eyes darted back to Raven the most, but she also watched Sparrow. If they weren't on the StarClan-damned journey he would probably be an apprentice. She sighed, it would still be a long time before he got that title. A cough woke her from her thoughts.

His mother, River, was violently coughing. Moth stood up as her muscles tensed. No, she couldn't be sick…not now! Suddenly, blood bubbled to her lips. She let out a screech as she flew off of the high rocks down to the now-red snow. Sparrow began to scream into the night for his mother. Incomprehensible words woke up the entire camp.

Moth pushed him aside and looked down at the queen, "River…wake up…River!" Ember, who had been sleeping, now opened her eyes.

"What's going on? Oh my StarClan…no…"

Red and Snow held Sparrow back as Moth pressed her ear to River's chest. All she could hear through the violent coughing was shaking in her chest. That and her heart was beating as fast as a bird's. A thought floated through her mind; if only Poppypaw was here. She would definitely know what to do.

A snarl formed on Moth's face, "No…there's something we can do…I know it!"

By this time Snow had separated the rest of the clan from River's wheezing body. They were sheltered on the other side of the rocks, away from view. He padded back as she said this. Ember stared down at River sadly, "Moth…Moth, there's nothing we can do. I've seen this before in other cats. They've always died. Her blood is too thin for her body to function."

"If we had a medicine cat—"

Snow interjected, "We don't and we haven't for a long time. I'm sorry Moth, she might as well be walking with StarClan now." He gave up sadly.

Moth let a small shaky gasp escape her.

She squeezed her eyes shut as she sunk down next to River's body. She pressed herself against River until the coughing stopped. The breathing grew very quiet and soft. She stayed this way until dawn began to break over the jagged peaks. Then her heart rate grew very rapid again. River's eyes look unseeing into the distance. She half-struggled for a moment to stand, to say something, but stopped. Her body collapsed again into the snow as a single shuddering breath left her body. Then, and only then, was it quiet. The very earth seemed to hold still.

Ember hung her head even lower and let a small moan pass through her lips. Snow padded slowly back to the rest of the clan on the other side of the rocks to tell the news. A moment later a chorus of cries resonated through the small valley.

Moth whispered a small prayer, too soft for Ember to hear, "Please…StarClan…Please make sure she finds her way to your ranks. Don't let her lose her way." She glanced down at her still body again and added, "She never deserved to die like this."

Only a second later and she stood up, "Come on, we need to bury her. I…I just can't let the rest of them see her like this."

Ember silently nodded her head. Together they quickly scooped out a hole in the cold earth, gently placed River's body in it, and covered it back up. Finally, they rejoined the clan.

The warriors were huddled together on the rocks, quiet as mice. Sparrow sat next to Snow. When Moth padded towards him he lifted his head for a moment, almost as if he thought she was his mother, before dejectedly letting it fall down again. Ember pressed herself against the kit.

"Moth, I need to talk to you privately. Now." Snow whispered into her ear quickly. Moth nodded his head and followed him. When the clan was out of earshot he began, "I think in order to keep the clan happy, we need to do something to get their minds off of River. If they brood on this, they'll begin to believe that this entire journey was a bad idea."

She just looked at him, "What are you suggesting?"

He took a deep breath, "I think since Sparrow's been of age for awhile now, we should make him an apprentice. It's only because of this journey that he isn't one yet. I just think that it'll lift their spirits."

Moth slowly nodded, "You're right. Why did you need to tell me this though?"

Snow smiled, "I want you to be his mentor. You're capable at hunting and fighting. And you've proven yourself several times now."

Moth stared at him in shock until Snow signaled with his tail to return back to the camp. Once there, he yowled loudly to get the camp's attention, "Cats of IceClan. We cannot brood over the death of one of our beloved clan members. Nor should we ever forget her. She will always be with us in StarClan, watching over us and protecting us."

He paused, letting the warriors let the message sink in before he continued, "But we also cannot let traditional ceremonies go unperformed. Sparrow, will you please step forward."

The tom stepped forward hesitantly. Moth guessed that he knew what was coming, but the shock of losing his mother overshadowed that.

" Sparrow, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. Your mentor will be Moth. I hope she will pass down all she knows on to you. Moth, come here."

He paused while a still-shocked Moth padded her way up to where Snow stood. He gave a small smile to her, showing her that he really did know what he was doing.

" Moth, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You had received excellent training from Hazel, and you have shown yourself to be brave and courageous. You will be the mentor of Sparrow, and I expect you to pass on all you know to him."

Sparrow padded up to her and touched noses with her. The clan then called out Sparrow's name three times and began congratulating him.

He tried his best to seem happy, and although he was, he was still grieved over his mother's sudden death. But Moth didn't think that they'd get out of here without any causalities. Chances were there would be more.


	18. Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

"Poppypaw, will you hurry up! We're going to be late at the rate you two are walking!" Mintpelt shouted back. She and Whisperpaw, now Whisperpelt, were discussing how going over herbs every moment of every day did any help.

"We can talk about it later." He winked at her. They each caught up to their mentors as they delved into a deep discussion about which herb was best for knocking a cat out.

"I remember my mentor loved to use a nice thick mixture of poppy, dandelion, and a little bit of willow bark. I think he even gave it to me when I got my scars."

"Does that even work?" Poppypaw asked.

Mintpelt laughed, "It works if you want to get sick before you get knocked out.

"Huh," said Crowrain, "I remember back when I was first an apprentice my mentor, Firetail, was very much into using the whole poppy. Never did much good in my opinion. All it did was make the receiver completely loopy for the next quarter moon."

"Crowrain," Whisperpelt said, "When you were an apprentice LionClan and TigerClan were probably still around." He playfully pushed his mentor, referring to his extreme old age.

Crowrain only mumbled and changed the subject, "Where is Lilystream?"

Poppypaw rolled her eyes, "I already told you. Brightstripe isn't feeling well so she stayed behind this time."

"Oh, Brightstripe. Back when she was young she was the best hunter around. I remember that we used to…" he trailed off into a thick memoir of his youth which Poppypaw quickly lost track of. It had to do something with mice and rabbits.

Quicker than she thought they had arrived at the Mooncave. First Whisperpelt, then her, then Crowrain, and lastly Mintpelt plunged into the darkness. Cloverheart was already there with another cat. He looked young so she assumed that Cloverheart had taken an apprentice finally.

"Who's this?" Crowrain asked, eyeing the young tom reproachfully.

Cloverheart rolled her eyes, "This is Greenpaw, my new apprentice if StarClan approves."

Poppypaw smiled warmly at him, as did Whisperpelt. They knew just how hard this job was and they were already picturing the moons and moons of memorizing herbs he had before him.

"Well, might as well get the ceremony started before the moon enters the cave." Crowrain said pushily.

"Fine, fine."

Cloverheart turned to Greenpaw, who sat almost quivering with excitement.

"Greenpaw, is it your wish to enter the mysteries of StarClan as a medicine cat?"

He took a steadying breath, "It is."

"Then come forward." She waited until he had joined her by the side of the pool, "Warriors of StarClan, I present you with this apprentice. He has chosen the path of a medicine cat. Grant him your wisdom and insight so that he may understand your ways and heal his clan in accordance with your will."

Greenpaw then dipped his head down and lapped a bit of the salty cool water. Moments later, the moon shone in through the fissure in the roof, illuminating the cave with the shining stones. Their radiance shone everywhere as the rest of the cats lapped up some of the water and fell asleep.

When she next opened her eyes she was standing in a starlit forest. As usual, she felt utterly at peace here. Stars twinkled in the branches and prey ran bountifully past her.

"Poppypaw?" a voice said.

She turned around and saw her mother again.

"Mother!" she greeted her and quickly said, "Jacques, he's alive!"

Silverswirl smiled, "I know." She shook her head, "I thought he was dead…for all of those moons…but he's alive."

A twig snapped behind her as a white she-cat stepped from the shadows, "Mintpaw!" Poppypaw yowled.

Her sister looked different. She was still just as small as she remembered, but the blood and gore was gone. Her fur was long, soft, and seemed to glitter like snow. It was the stars that were so characteristic of the StarClan cats. Where the gash in her throat had been, there was now just a concentration of stars.

"What are you doing here?"

Her sister smiled, "Mother and me thought it might prove beneficial to visit father tonight."

Poppypaw glanced at Silverswirl to see if really was what she wanted. Her mother replied with a short nod of her head and a signal to follow her sister, who was already well on her way to camp.

Rainheart was fast asleep in his nest near the front of the warriors' den. Considering the fact that he was so new to the clan, the other warriors made him sleep near the entrance with the new warriors, where it was colder.

Silverswirl looked down upon her mate with such warmth that Poppypaw could almost feel it radiating from her star-mingled pelt. She bent down and whispered into his ear, so low she almost couldn't hear, "Jacques, mon amour, wake up."

Poppypaw guessed that he hadn't heard his first name for a long time by the way he quickly stirred up.

"It's not Jacques anymore, it's Rai…" he trailed off as his eyes focused on Silverswirl. He stood there in shock. She guessed that he didn't understand that he was in a dream. "What's going on…what's this?"

Her mother's voice was as sweet as honey as she calmed him, "Mon amour, you are in a dream."

"Aucun… il ne peut pas être…" He said slowly in his native language.

Silverswirl must've known some of the twoleg-place language, because she replied in the same sweet tone, "Oui, c'est possible. Ils m'ont permis de venir ce soir. Je ne viens pas pour l'éternité, mais j'ai la capacité de te rendre visite quand l'occasion devrait se présenter."

Poppypaw had no idea what they were saying, but whatever it was, it sounded beautiful. They continued on for a little while before they parted again. Rainheart got the chance to visit the daughter he never knew and understand his mate's death in full.

Finally, when they returned to the StarClan forest, she knew dawn must be approaching. "Is there anything else left that you wanted to discuss mother?" Poppypaw asked before she left.

"Yes, there's one bit of business left yet to discuss." Silverswirl replied, "But first, Mintpaw…"

"Yes, of course. I'll go get her." Her sister bowed her head and quickly ran off into the forest.

"Who's she going to get?" Poppypaw asked.

Her mother just flicked her tail for silence and waited. It didn't take long for Mintpaw to return with Berrystar. After bringing the leader back, her sister left.

Berrystar spoke first, "The time is drawing near for you to meet IceClan."

Poppypaw shook her head, "No, it's only been four moons. They still have three moons left according to Silverswirl."

Her mother shook her head, "Circumstances have arisen that require you to meet them much sooner than we first expected."

"What 'circumstances' are you talking about, nothing bad I hope?" She said, worried.

Berrystar spoke again, "Out of a tragedy there will emerge something forbidden, something extraordinary, and something that will change quite a few cats' views on StarClan."

"What do you mean by that?" Poppypaw asked. She didn't expect an answer, so she was surprised when Silverswirl began to talk.

"Cats are beginning to lose their faith in us. BreezeClan warriors are openly rebelling against their leader. Gingerstar is young, but capable. That's why we appointed her leader. OceanClan cats seem to do whatever they want. MarshClan flat out disobeys the code. And SunClan is losing their faith in us due to the recent dark times. We need to have an example."

She was silent for a moment before speaking, "An example...what kind of example?"

"We have been preparing something that has been a long time in coming. IceClan's arrival will begin the spark. A cat as complex as a labyrinth will fuel the fire. And your kin will quench it."

"Who is it? Is it Dawnpaw…Morningpaw…one of their kits?"

At each name mentioned they shook their heads and denied her questions. Berrystar spoke this time, saying, "We cannot say any more. You can't either. What words have passed between us will remain a secret."  
"Well what do you mean be 'a cat as complex as a labyrinth'? Where does this cat come from?"

"We've said too much." Berrystar reiterated. "There's no stopping what we've set in motion now. You'll know soon enough anyhow."

"How long, please tell me that!" The both looked at each other before shaking their heads.

Silverswirl said, "If you knew how long, it would have to potential to ruin our plans. Like we've said, the stones that begin the avalanche have already begun to roll. There's no stopping it now until it has run its course. I'll see you again soon, my daughter."

Both she-cats began to fade into the darkness, leaving her, once again, alone in the forest. The sun still had not risen, so she knew she still had some time left before everyone woke up. Feeling restless, she headed to FourRivers. That place was always calm and helped soothe her mind.

Naturally, she was surprised when she entered the clearing and found herself facing Whisperpelt. He was talking to a cat she didn't know, probably an ancestor from MarshClan. He seemd to be trying to dissuade him from doing something. They didn't notice her slip into the shadows quietly as Whisperpelt replied.

"If only she knew…if only she knew the draw she gives out."

The MarshClan cat spoke back, "That's why you're a medicine cat! You must prove yourself able to resist such things."

"But she's amazing. Her faith and her mind are so strong! She's inspiring!"

"Whisperpelt, please, listen to yourself. You took an oath-"

He voice seemed to bite with venom, "An oath I wished I hadn't taken now!"

Both cats were quiet for a moment before the MarshClan cat said, "You don't mean that, Whisperpelt. I know you; I know you wanted to be a medicine cat so bad. One she-cat isn't going to change that fact."

"Poppypaw isn't just some random she-cat." Poppypaw could barely hold in her gasp when Whisperpelt said her name. He loved her! No wonder this ancestor was trying to talk him out of it.

"She's a medicine cat, for a different clan, and you're a medicine cat, from another clan. It would never work." He enunciated each syllable slowly, trying to let the message sink in.

Whisperpelt looked up, and noticing the coming dawn said, "I have to go. I know what I feel. I love her, and you can't change that."

The MarshClan cat looked furious, "You don't understand the powers you underestimate. I have to power to change your fate in a matter of heartbeats. Don't think that you're some high and mighty, all-powerful being, Whisperpelt. You're not."

The toms stared each other down before Whisperpelt stalked out of the clearing. Poppypaw didn't care to see any more so she quickly woke herself up.

Crowrain and Mintpelt were just stretching. It didn't take too long before Greenpaw and Whisperpelt awoke too. As they walked back to their separate clans, she tried not to talk to Whisperpelt too much. Instead, she conversed with Greenpaw on what he thought being a medicine cat would be like.

But her mind wandered. She wondered if she really did like Whisperpelt. He was kind, funny, smart, and if she were a warrior, he would definitely be her type. But they had both chosen the life of a medicine cat. That meant no kits and no mates. But he obviously didn't care too much for that.

All of these thoughts gave her such a headache so that by the time she returned to the SunClan camp, all she could do was fall into her nest and go into a deep, deep sleep. She didn't want to think about the choices that she was going to be facing soon. All she wanted was to turn off her brain, if only for one night.


End file.
